Bullets and Thorns
by No Guns Only Roses
Summary: Got a request? Drop it here and I'll do my best to write it! TMNT oneshots as requested by fellow writers and reviewers. Ratings, Characters, and Genres will vary. CLOSED for now until current requests are finished!
1. Letting Her Go

**I've been getting a lot of requests lately (which is good!), so I've decided to do to a request compilation. Whatever requests you have, I'll try to do them in here!**

 **But I can't do Yaoi, Yuri, smut, incest, or Tcest. Especially Tcest! Those are the only exceptions.**

 **First chapter is for Dagoddd, who requested a fic in which Shredder actually takes up on Karai's offer in my story "My Guardian Angel Wears Orange".**

 **NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes which I will fix later.**

"Sak-" She bit her lip and shut her eyes. She really didn't want to resort to this, but... "Father, please!"

The Shredder paused and looked over at her.

"I'll come back home," she desperately told him. "I'll do anything you want. Just please...don't hurt him."

His glowing blue eyes narrowed as he considered her offer. He looked back down at the youngest Ninja Turtle, who was whispering loving goodbyes to his brothers. He slowly lowered his arm and stomped over to Karai.

"You are willing to give up everything for that mutant?" he asked her.

Karai's brown eyes brimmed with tears as she nodded her head. "Yes," she said softly, looking directly at Mikey.

Mikey's light blue eyes widened in horror and he shook his head frantically, silently begging her not to go through with this.

But the kunoichi had made up her mind and she looked back up at Shredder. "Yes, I am," she reaffirmed.

The monster glanced over at Splinter, who was absolutely horrified by Karai's decision, before he gave her a slight nod. "Very well. And because you are my daughter, I will allow you to give Yoshi and his Turtles one final farewell."

Karai sucked in a deep, shaky breath and nodded. "Thank you," she whispered. Although she hated him with every fiber of her being, she was grateful that she was given the chance to say goodbye to her father and brothers.

Shredder stomped over to Splinter and roughly grabbed him by the back of his neck, forcing him to look at Karai. "Say your goodbyes, Yoshi," he said in a cold voice, "for it will be the last time you ever see each other."

For a long time, Splinter could only stare at her with worried and sad brown eyes, his ears flattened. So she spoke first.

"I'm sorry, Father," she softly said with a sad smile. "But I have to go with him."

Splinter shook his head. "No, Miwa," he pleaded in a choked up voice. "Please...don't do this."

"Karai," Leo called out to her, still be restrained by Tiger Claw. His midnight blue eyes were full of fear and sadness. "You can't go with him. Not when we're finally together as a family again."

"It's okay, Leo," she gently assured him. "Who knows? We just see each other again someday." She turned to Mikey and smiled warmly at him. "Sorry, Mikey. Guess I won't be moving into your room after all."

The freckled Turtle began to cry and shook his head. "No, Sis," he whimpered. "Please."

She looked back at Splinter and tried her best to restrain the oncoming tears. "Goodbye, Father. I love you."

Tears soaked the fur on Splinter's cheeks as he opened his mouth to speak...

Then the sounds of bones cracking and flesh tearing echoed in the empty warehouse.

Two blades were sticking out of Splinter's chest. The rat's eyes widened and he began to groan and choke on his own blood, while Shredder just glared down at him with cold glowing eyes.

 **"NOOOOO!"**

Karai and the Turtles screamed in horror as they watched the monstrous mutant rip his blades out of their father's body. As soon as Splinter dropped to the floor, Mikey got up and ran to him, even though his was still bound with chains. The others were now fighting to break free and get to him as well, although Raph was roaring with fury and wanted to tear the Shredder apart.

Karai started to get up, too, but then Saki grabbed a hold of her and flung her over his shoulder, carrying her away. She frantically kicked and screamed as he exited the building with his henchmen.

The last thing she saw before the doors slammed shut was the Turtles gathering around Splinter, all of them sobbing and begging him to wake up.

* * *

"WHY?!"

Karai gripped the bars of her cell as she glared murderously at the Shredder, angry tears flowing down her cheeks. "Why did you do that?!" she screamed.

His eyes seemed to soften a bit as he leaned in closer to the bars. "I lost you once, daughter," he calmly said. "I won't let Yoshi take you from me again. You belong to me. Only to me."

She was only angered even further by his words. "Lose me? Don't you get it?" she hissed. "You've already lost me. Did you really believe that I would ever forgive you for lying to me and taking me from my family? My realfamily? There's no love in my heart left for you."

She then walked away from the bars and sat in a corner, hugging her legs close to her chest and burying her face in her knees.

"I hate you," she whispered. "I hate you so much."

For a while, he said nothing. She never looked up, but she felt his presence in the room. She half expected him to march right into her cell and kill her right there and then. Then she heard the lock to her door clicking, assuming that he had just locked her in, maybe forever. Why? Because he could.

He then finally spoke in an unusually soft tone. "I know."

She then heard him walk out of the prison and the door shutting. For the longest time, she just sat there, sobbing for her father. Her true father.

* * *

"Karai, I have a very special surprise for you."

The then eight year old Karai fidgeted in her kneeling position, unable to contain her excitement. It was her birthday today, and her father promised to give her a special gift. She couldn't wait to see what it was.

Maybe it was her first katana? Or even a puppy? Knowing him, though, it would probably be a pit bull or even a wolf pup.

Saki pulled something from out of the pocket of his robe, and in his hand was a kanzashi with beautiful red, white and pink flowers.

The excited smile on her face immediately dropped as she looked at it in disappointment. "A hair comb?" She was never the girly, dainty type so why did her father get her hair accessories for her birthday?

Saki chuckled and delicately brushed the flowers with his thumb. "This used to belong to your mother. I know she would've wanted you to have it."

Karai's brown eyes immediately sparkled at the mention of her mother. Saki knelt down and gently placed the comb in her hair. He stood back and looked down at her with pride.

"You are just as beautiful as your mother," he softly told her. "She truly lives on through you."

Karai smiled shyly and bowed to him. "Thank you, Father."

* * *

"Karai!"

She awoke at a familiar voice calling to her and sat upright. She was shocked to see the Turtles standing in front of her cell. But they looked different. They weren't wearing their usual multicolored mask, but they all wore black. And they painted their bodies with black stripes.

Leo gripped the bars and reached a hand out to her. "Karai, are you alright?"

She ran over to him and held his hand. "I'm fine. But what about Father?"

He looked at her with sad eyes and squeezed her hand. He didn't say anything, but his eyes said it all. She looked over his shoulder at the others. None of them could even look her in the eye.

She felt her heart shatter into pieces and covered her face with her arm, unable to stop the tears. Her father died without her at his side, and her last memory of him was that heartbroken look on his face when she said that she'd go with Shredder.

She felt Leo rub his thumb across hers. "Come on, Karai," he whispered lovingly to her. "Let's go home."

She looked up at him with tear-stained cheeks. "B-But the Shredder...?"

"We don't have to worry about him anymore," he immediately told her.

Karai's eyes widened in realization and surprise. "You-You mean you...?"

Leo nodded. "Yes. He's finished."

Although she should've been thrilled at the news of Saki's demise, she couldn't help but feel a little pity for the man who raised her since she was an infant. But she quickly shrugged it off and nodded. "Good," she simply said.

Donnie stepped forward and inspected the lock to the door. "Let me see if I can pick-" He paused as he noticed something unusual. "Wait. This door isn't locked."

Karai looked at him surprised. "What?"

"Shredder never locked you in," the genius said.

"So she could've walked out of here anytime she wanted?" Raph asked with a raised eye ridge.

"Maybe he forgot?" Mikey suggested.

No. He didn't forget. She heard him turn the lock hours before. He did it deliberately, but why?

"Maybe," Leo said. "But it doesn't matter." He swung the door open and Karai walked out of her cell. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close to him. "Let's go, Karai."

* * *

She knelt in front of Hamato Yoshi's tombstone under the tree. She wasn't even at her father's funeral.

She felt her hatred toward Saki grow even stronger. It was all his fault.

Kneeling next to her was her little brother who almost sacrificed himself for her. Tears were streaming down his freckled cheeks, and she reached over to wipe them with her thumb.

"Mikey," she whispered to him. "Dry your eyes. Father wouldn't want you to be sad. He would've wanted you to move on and be happy."

He closed his eyes and nodded, wiping his face with the back of his hand. "Yeah," he sniffled. "By the way, I found this in Shredder's prison."

To her surprise, he handed her her mother's kanzashi.

"I thought you might want it 'cause it's really pretty," he said. "It was just lying there on the floor. I don't know how it ended up there."

As she gingerly held the comb in her hands, she realized that Saki had left it there for her to find once she got out of her cell. Although she could never forgive him for taking her away from her family and killing her father, she was touched by the fact that deep down, he truly cared about her.

After all, he cared enough to let her go.

 **Hope you liked it, Dagoddd! :)**


	2. You'll Float, Too

**So this is a combination of the requests by Hawkfeather, efarraiz, and Pheonix09. I added a few twists though.** **It features a surprise guest star from a newly released horror film.** **Hopefully you guys will like it! :)**

 **NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes which I will fix later.**

 _"Do you know why you are leader of this team?"_

 _"Um, yeah, because I asked to be. You said it wasn't because of my skills."_

 _"I said that only to temper your ego at the time. I knew that even when you were a small boy that you would one day grow up to be the leader of this team, and when I pass on, to be like a father as well."_

* * *

"You're not my father, Leo!" Raph banged the kitchen table with his fist, glaring at his leader with furious emerald eyes.

Leo sternly crossed his arms. "No, but I am your leader and Sensei," he calmly told Raph. "And the answer is still no."

Mikey cautiously peeked into the kitchen, having heard the yelling all the way from his bedroom. "Um, what's going on?" he squeaked.

Raph pointed an accusing finger at Leo. "He _still_ won't let me go out and fight crime as the Nightwatcher! But he, himself, went behind Sensei's back and did secret missions with Karai for a while!" He took a step forward and got up close to Leo's face. "So who are _you_ to tell me I can't get into the vigilante business?" he hissed.

"It was wrong of me to do that, Raph," Leo said, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder. "I admit it. And as your Sensei, I can't let you make the same mistake I did. I just want to protect you guys."

Instead of calming down, Raph grew even more infuriated and slapped Leo's hand off his shoulder. "Well, we don't need your protection! We're not helpless babies! We can take care of ourselves!"

He then stomped out of the kitchen, nearly pushing Mikey out of the way.

"Raph, wait!" Mikey called after him. "Where are you going?!"

"I'm not going anywhere!" Raph yelled back. "I can't even leave the sewers! As decreed by _Master_ Leonardo!" The angry Turtle stepped into the tunnels and disappeared.

Leo groaned as he felt another splitting headache, rubbing his temple and sitting down at the table. Mikey sighed and sat down across from him, folding his arms and resting his chin on them.

"I wish Master Splinter was here," the freckled Turtle murmured sadly.

Leo nodded. "Yeah. Me, too, Mikey."

* * *

Donnie yawned and rested his chin in his hand as he continued to scroll down the web page. He was so fixated on the computer screen that he hadn't noticed a figure reaching out to him in the darkness.

He nearly jumped out of his chair and screamed when he felt a hand lightly touch him on the shoulder. He swiftly turned around and saw Leo standing behind him, a concerned look on his face.

"Donnie, you need to get some sleep," Leo gently said. "You can't keep doing this your body."

The genius Turtle stretched himself and let out another yawn. "I'm fine, Leo. Really. I'm used to it."

"Well, it's not healthy." Leo turned off the screen and as well as the monitor.

"H-Hey!" Donnie protested. "I wasn't finished reading my article!"

"You can finish it tomorrow. But now you have to go to bed."

"Stop treating me like a child, Leo! I'm _fine!_ "

Quickly losing his patience, Leo reached for the mirror that was on the table and held it out in front of Donnie. "Look at yourself, Donnie. You certainly don't look 'fine'."

Indeed, Donnie looked awful. His eyes were bloodshot and had dark circles under them. He practically looked like a zombie. But he stubbornly knocked the mirror out of Leo's hand. "Leave me alone, Leo! Quit worrying about us so much!"

Now Leo was getting angry. He didn't want to deal with this twice in one day. "In case you've forgotten, it's my job to worry about you guys! Why can't _any_ of you understand that? I worry about you because I love you!"

"Maybe," Donnie sneered. "OR...maybe it's because you always want to be in control. That's why you jumped at the chance of becoming our leader. It's all about being in control."

Leo had had enough and his eye twitched in anger. "Control? Yeah, you're right, because without me, there _is_ no control in this household! Obviously none of you can take care yourselves! You wouldn't be able to survive without me!"

Donnie never once took his eyes off Leo as he reached down to turn the monitor back on just to spite him. With a huff Leo stomped out of the lab and headed into the kitchen to make tea. Tea always soothed his nerves.

* * *

Mikey was sitting at the table and eating a slice of his extra large chocolate chip, jellybean, and pepperoni pizza...that was over a week old. Just watching him eat made Leo feel sick to his stomach.

"Um, Mikey?" Leo walked over to him and closed the pizza box. "I don't think you should be eating that, especially at this late hour. I don't want you to get sick."

"Awwwww, c'mon, Leo!" Mikey whined. "I need a midnight snack! I can't sleep without something in my belly!"

Leo reached into the cabinet and pulled out his _Space Heroes_ cereal box, offering it to Mikey. "Well, then why don't you eat something that's lighter on your stomach, like cereal?"

"Cereal?" Mikey snorted and rolled his eyes. "I need something cheesy and spicy, like pizza!" He opened the pizza box and got himself another slice.

Leo sighed exasperatedly. "Mikey, please, I've had a long night. Would you just put the pizza away?"

When Mikey kept ignoring him, he reached for the pizza box. But like an animal protecting its meal, Mikey snatched it away in time and held it close to his plastron, making a hissing sound.

Leo stepped away and looked at Mikey in shock, before his face became distorted with rage and he furiously threw the cereal box to the ground. "FINE! GET SICK FOR ALL I CARE! SCREW ALL OF YOU!"

Mikey's blue eyes widened and his jaw dropped as he watched Leo run out of the lair.

* * *

"Then he just ran off!"

Mikey was now in the living room with Raph and Donnie, telling them about what took place in the kitchen. It had been almost an hour since Leo left the lair, and he still hadn't returned. Worried about his eldest brother, Mikey immediately alerted his two other brothers.

"Well, what are we standing around for?" Raph roughly nudged Donnie, who almost dropped his coffee cup. "We gotta go look for him!"

"Right," Donnie quickly finished the last of his coffee. "We'll start with the sewers. Mikey, get the flashlights."

* * *

They decided to split up in order to cover more ground.

Raph kept replaying his argument with Leo in his mind over and over again as he went deeper into the tunnels. He blamed himself for his brother running away. Why couldn't he control his temper?

After all, Leo was only looking out for his brothers' best interest. It's not easy being the leader, especially after your teacher and father has just died, leaving you to take care of the family alone.

Just then he heard footsteps running down the tunnels. He swiftly turned and pointed his flashback in the direction of the sound. "Leo? Is that you?"

Something shiny and red was floating toward him from out of the darkness, and to Raph's surprise and confusion, it was a balloon. Was there a kid lost in the sewers or something? Soon even more balloons appeared, so many that Raph lost count.

"Okay...this is getting weird..."

A balloon that got very close to his face suddenly popped...

...and a bunch of cockroaches came flying at him. Raph screamed as they landed on him and frantically tried to get them off, dropping his flashlight in the process.

 _Pop! Pop! Pop!_

More and more balloons burst, thousands of cockroaches raining down and crawling all over him. His whole body was completely covered in bugs. But as he began to hyperventilate, he remembered one of Sensei's final teachings to him. He took in a shaky breath and closed his eyes.

 _"Kore wa nanimo imi shinai...kore wa nanimo imi shinai...kore wa-"_

A maniacal laughter interrupted his mantra.

 _ **"It won't work, Raph,"**_ a sinister voice echoed in the dark tunnels. _**"Daddy isn't around to protect you from the big bad bugs anymore."**_

He opened his eyes and saw what appeared to be a clown standing in front of him. He was holding a single red balloon and smiled devilishly at him. Something about him terrified Raph even more and he ran off screaming, the cockroaches still latched onto him. He could hear the clown's haunting laughter again as he continued to run.

* * *

Donnie felt so guilty about calling Leo a control freak.

Perhaps he was right; without him to keep them in check, they would've survive a week. When Splinter was still around, he'd force Donnie to turn off the computer and head to bed so that he'd get a goodnight's rest. Leo was only doing what Sensei would've done. He was trying his best to fill in the father role that had been forced upon him in the wake of Sensei's passing.

As he continued down the tunnel, he felt a hand gently touch his shoulder, startling him. He whipped his head around and flashed his light at the stranger.

"April?"

The teenager was as white as a sheet, like she had just seen a ghost. "Donnie," she breathed.

"What are you doing here?"

"I-I was just coming down for a visit," she explained. "Then I heard Leo screaming. I went to go look for him and...Donnie, something weird is going on in the sewers."

He gently placed his hands on her shoulders. "What? What did you see?"

"Something...just horrible," she shuddered. "We need to find Leo and fast."

"Okay, just stay close to me and we'll look for him together," he gently told her. As they walked down the tunnel, April hugged Donnie's arm and leaned against him, causing the Turtle to blush and gulp nervously. They walked in silence for a while before she spoke again.

"Donnie, now that we're alone," she whispered, "there's something I have to tell you."

"What is it?" Donnie whispered back, still focusing on the path before him.

"It's the whole reason I came down here," she continued. "I know how you feel about me."

He looked over at her with blushed cheeks. "Huh?"

She smiled shyly at him. "And you're probably wondering how I feel about you."

"Um..." he chuckled nervously, "now's not the best time, April. We'll discuss this after we find-"

"No," she cut him off and stopped him from walking any further. "I have to tell you now. I've been thinking about it for a long time, and well..." Her beautiful blue eyes looked straight into his auburn one as she reached to touch his cheeks. "...I think I like you, too. A lot. Kiss me, Donnie."

He felt his heart going over a hundred miles per hour as she leaned up to kiss him. Before he could pull away, her soft lips pressed against his, and before he knew it, he was kissing her back passionately, carelessly dropping his flashlight. This had to be a sweet, wonderful dream. If it was, he never wanted to wake up. Ever.

As they continued to embrace and kiss each other, Donnie's mind suddenly went back to Leo, who was still missing and possibly hurt. Although he didn't want to stop this moment, he gently and reluctantly pushed her away. But to his shock, the person that was standing in front of him wasn't April, but a strange, creepy clown. There was a red smear from his lipstick on the side of his face as he smiled creepily at the horrified Turtle.

 _ **"Kiss me, Donnie!"**_ he said in a mocking, girly voice.

Donnie just about threw up in his mouth and he ran away from the laughing clown. The wonderful dream just turned into a horrible nightmare.

 _ **"A few seconds more and I would've bitten your face off!"**_ he heard the clown taunt him in the distance.

* * *

"Oh, man...I shouldn't have eaten all that pizza..."

Mikey hugged his stomach as he continued to walk through the tunnels, holding the flashlight out in front of him. He felt like he could throw up anytime soon. He should've listened to Leo and eaten that cereal instead.

He was shocked by Leo's outburst earlier, but he knew that he deserved it. Leo had been stressing a lot lately since the death of their Sensei, and his brothers whining and acting like a bunch of babies certainly didn't help the situation. Leo was trying his best and he knew that he could never replace Splinter.

Mikey really missed his Dad. They all did. But Leo probably was hurting the most.

"Michelangelo!"

Mikey stopped dead in his tracks when he heard that familiar voice. It called out to him again.

"Michelangelo!"

No way...it couldn't be...!

The freckled Turtle quickly followed the voice to the septic tanks, and sure enough, standing on the other side of a drain directly across from him, was Master Splinter, himself, smiling and waving at him. "Hello, Michelangelo," he greeted with his usual warm smile.

Mikey's blue eyes widened and he nearly dropped his flashlight. "...Papa?" he said barely above a whisper.

Splinter spread his arms wide open. "I am here, my son."

Although he wanted nothing more than to run to his father and embrace him, something held Mikey back. He closed his eyes and slapped himself in the face to see if this was a dream. Or maybe a hallucination from all the pizza that he ate. When he opened his eyes again, Splinter was still standing there and now had a bunch of red balloons in his hand.

"Do you want a balloon, Michelangelo?" the rat asked him, a smile still plastered on his face. "They float. They _all_ float."

Fear began to creep into Mikey's heart and he started to step away. This wasn't his father. It may had looked and sounded like his father, but it didn't _feel_ like him.

"Come with me, Michelangelo," "Splinter" said as he pointed to the drain. "You'll love it down there. It's a wonderful place where you'll never have to grow up. No more worries. No more pain. And most importantly, we'll be together forever."

Those sweet words tempted him even more, but Mikey still remained where he stood and shook his head. "No!" he closed his eyes and gripped the sides of his head. "No! You're not him! You're not Splinter!"

A creepy laughter made him open his eyes again, and in "Splinter's" place stood a really scary clown with red poofy hair and piercing blue eyes. He stood there and continued to laugh at Mikey before he suddenly disappeared.

Mikey was both confused and terrified. _What just happened? Who was that clown?_

Then all of a sudden a clawed, rotting hand reached out for him from the waters of the drain. Mikey screamed and nearly tumbled backwards, and he gasped in horror as a rotting Squirrelanoid that had its flesh hanging off its bones slowly resurfaced, staring at him with dead white eyes.

 ** _"They float,"_** it spoke to him in a creepy, raspy voice. **_"They_ all _float. And when you're down here with me, Mikey,_ _you'll_ _float, too."_**

Before it could even crawl out of the water, Mikey ran away screaming at the top of his lungs.

"GAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

* * *

"HELLLLLLP!"

The cockroaches stuck to him like glue even as he wiggled and kicked with all his might. He was blinded by the all bugs that covered his face to see that something was headed right toward him.

"Oof!"

He bumped right into someone and fell on his shell.

"Raph?"

He looked up and saw Donnie standing over him, much to his great relief. "Donnie! Get these things off me! Quick!" As he stood back up, Donnie quickly swept the cockroaches off of him, and soon he was completely cockroach-free. "Whew, thanks, bro."

"What the heck happened to you?" Donnie asked him.

"I'm not sure," Raph mumbled before he noticed something strange on Donnie's face. "What happened to _you_?"

Donnie raised an eye ridge. "Huh?"

"You've got a red smear on your face right there," Raph pointed at the left corner of his lips.

Donnie wiped his lips with the back of his hand and realized that Raph was right. But how was he going to explain that he had unknowingly made out with a clown?

Before he could begin to explain, a bright light shined on both of them.

"Dudes!" Mikey lowered his flashlight and ran to them, wrapping his arms around them in a big hug. "You're both okay!"

"Mikey, are you okay?" Donnie patted his little brother's shell.

"Guys, you won't believe this," Mikey pulled away. "I ran into Master Splinter, only he wasn't really Master Splinter. Then he turned into this creepy clown, and then he turned into a-"

"Hold up," Raph interrupted. "Did you say you saw a clown?"

Mikey should've known that his brothers wouldn't believe him. "Yeah, dude! A clown! And not the funny type of clown either! I know you don't believe me but-"

"No, I saw him, too."

"You..you did?"

"So did I," Donnie joined in, nodding his head.

"Okay, what the heck is going on?" Raph demanded, getting even more creeped out by the minute.

"I don't know," Donnie said. "But we gotta find Leo and fast. And we can't split up again. We need to stick _together_."

Mikey and Raph both nodded. No argument there.

* * *

With Mikey leading the way with his flashlight, the trio explored the rest of the sewers together, searching for Leo. At some point they heard a low growling sound and immediately stopped.

"Mikey, tell me that was your stomach," Donnie whispered fearfully.

"No way, dude," Mikey whimpered. "My stomach doesn't growl like that no matter how hungry I am."

The growling grew even louder as they continued down the dark tunnel, and eventually they reached the end of it. They all gasped in unison as they saw what stood before them.

The very same clown they each encountered was holding Leo up by the neck. The Turtle was motionless and his eyes were completely white as if he were in a trance. The clown then opened his mouth _very_ wide and his teeth slowly became sharp and jagged like a shark's. With a guttural growl, he lifted Leo and prepared to bite his head clean off his shoulders.

"LEO!" Mikey screamed.

The clown whipped his head around and glared at the other Turtles with yellow eyes instead of the blue ones from earlier. He roared threateningly at them, showing off his horrid sharp teeth. The sound he made was unlike anything they ever heard, and it sent chills down their spines.

But Raph bravely charged at the monster with his twin sai, bent on protecting his brother no matter what. "LET HIM GO!"

The clown immediately let go of him and dashed away at an incredible speed, disappearing into the darkness. Leo fell limp to the floor and Raph knelt down to hold him.

"Leo?"

The Turtle remained unresponsive, his white eyes still white.

"Leo, come on!" Raph repeatedly slapped him in the face. "Don't do this to us!"

Leo still didn't respond. The others began to fear the worst.

"Donnie, nothing's working!" Raph cried, tears starting to glisten in his eyes.

"Here, let me try!" Mikey shoved Raph aside and gently lifted his head. He pressed their foreheads together and closed his eyes. For a long time, they stayed like that, very still and silent.

Raph looked over at Donnie, who somberly shook his head. Although Mikey tried, it was already too late. Donnie was about to pull him away when Leo gasped and started to hyperventilate, his blue eyes back but full of fear.

"Leo!" Mikey hugged Leo and nuzzled his beak against his brother's cheek. "It's okay! I'm here for you, bro!"

"Yeah, and so am I!" Raph grabbed Leo's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "You're safe, brother."

"We're _all_ safe," Donnie grabbed Leo's other hand.

Leo started to calm down and he closed his eyes, a single tear escaping and sliding down his cheek. "S-Safe..." he whispered.

* * *

"Here you go, Leo." Donnie handed him a steaming cup of his favorite tea. With shaky hands, he took it and brought it to his lips.

"You okay now, bro?" Raph soothingly rubbed his shell.

Leo sipped his tea and shook his head slowly. "No," he said softly. "I don't think so."

"What happened back there, Leo?" Mikey wrapped a warm blanket around his brother and sat down on the couch next to him.

Leo closed his eyes and began to shiver, the memory of what took place on the sewers haunting him.

"Hey, it's okay," Raph gently told him as he continued to rub his shell. "If you're not ready to talk about it yet-"

"No," Leo firmly said. "No, I have to get this off my chest." He took a deep shaky breath and straightened up a bit, preparing to tell them the story...

* * *

He stopped running and leaned against the wall to catch his breath.

He felt so ashamed of himself for snapping at Mikey like that, but he was so tired of his brothers rebelling against him and making his job as leader much more difficult than it already is.

He closed his eyes as he murmured a prayer to his Sensei. "Father, I'm sorry...but...I can't do this anymore. I need help."

 _ **"Hello, Leo."**_

Leo startled when he heard a high-pitched voice speaking to him in the darkness. "Who's there!" he shouted.

The voice didn't respond back and Leo started to become afraid, deciding that it was time to head back. But just as he turned to leave, he found himself face-to-face with a very tall clown, nearly giving him a heart attack. He instinctively reached behind him for his katanas, but he then remembered that he left them back at the lair.

He just hoped that this clown wasn't dangerous.

The stranger smiled creepily at him, offering him the red balloon in his hand. _**"Do you want a balloon, Leo?"**_

Leo suspiciously looked at the balloon and back at the clown before shaking his head. "Uh, no thanks," he politely declined. "I really should be- wait...how do you know my name?"

 _ **"Oh, I know everything about you,"**_ the clown said. _**"And I know you've been stressing a lot lately. It's not easy being leader, is it? Especially for someone as young as you are. Oh, how rude! I haven't introduced myself! I'm Pennywise the Dancing Clown."**_

Although he was seemingly polite, this clown stated to give Leo the creeps. "Y-Yeah, nice to meet you. Look, I really gotta go."

 _ **"Go?"**_ Pennywise tilted his head. _**"Go where? Back to that nightmare you call family? You don't really want to go back there, Leo."**_

"Maybe not," Leo said, "but I have to be there for my brothers."

 _ **"But don't you want to be happy for once? I can help you with that, Leo. I can make all your troubles...float away."**_

The Turtle shook his head and brushed past the clown. "No thank you. My brothers are more important to me than my happiness."

Pennywise began to cackle. _**"But how can you protect them...when they're already dead?"**_

Confused and startled, Leo stopped and looked back at the clown, who pointed at the sewage waters below them. Leo reluctantly looked down and to his horror, the bodies of his brothers were floating and bobbing up and down in the water.

"Wha..." Leo looked at the bodies in panic. "No...no, this can't...!"

Slowly the undead Raph lifted his head from the water and looked at Leo with dead white eyes. _"Jump in, Leo,"_ he gurgled, dark green sludge coming out of his mouth as he spoke. " _Join us...and you'll float, too."_

The corpses of Donnie and Mikey lifted their heads and chanted, _"You'll float, too...you'll float, too...you'll float, too..."_

Leo slowly shook his head and stepped back. "No...No!" He dropped to his knees and began to wail, gripping the sides of his head. "NOOOO!"

The corpses continued to chant endlessly. " _You'll_ _float, too...you'll float too...you'll float, too..."_

As Leo continued to stare at the gruesome scene in horror and dread, Pennywise smiled devilishly and crept up behind him, reaching for his neck with his gloved hands...

* * *

"Then I-I blacked out," Leo shuddered, gripping the blanket that covered him. "For a long time, I didn't feel or see anything. I was completely lost in the darkness. Then I felt this warmth, and it brought me back."

Raph glanced over at Mikey, smiling gratefully at him. His little brother never ceased to amaze him.

Leo sighed heavily. "I know this all sounds unbelievable, but-"

"No, we saw him, too, Leo," Donnie told him.

Leo looked up at his genius brother. "Th-The same clown?" Donnie nodded.

"Just who is this Pennywise guy?" Raph rubbed his chin.

"Or maybe we should be asking ourselves, _what_ is he?" Mikey gulped. "He's obviously not human."

"He seems to know our greatest fears and uses them to break us down and make us vulnerable," Donnie concluded. "Much like Fungus Humungous, but something tells me that the two are completely unrelated. What we're dealing with here is something far more sinister. Evil, even."

"Well, whatever he is," Raph growled as he pounded his fist into his hand, "if he ever comes back, we'll be ready for him." He then turned to Leo and sat down next to him. "But we have to face him _together_. Leo, you've been carrying all this weight on your shoulders, and it's starting to wear you down. You're scared that you'll fail to protect us. But you can't handle this fear on your own. Let us help you, bro."

Leo shook his head. "No, Raph. It's my own burden to bear as your leader and Sensei. And you guys were right: I worry about you too much."

"No, you don't," Donnie said, kneeling down in front of Leo and placing his hand on his knees. "We need you to keep us in shape. You always know what's best for us, even if we don't always agree."

Mikey rested his head on Leo's shoulder, affectionately nuzzling him. "You're always taking care of us, Leo. Let us take care of _you_."

Leo bit his lower lip and closed his eyes, a single tear escaping and sliding down his cheek. He felt Raph, Donnie, and Mikey engulf him in a warm hug. He couldn't ask for better brothers.

"Thank you."

* * *

Somewhere in the dark, lonely tunnels, a solitary red balloon floated around aimlessly. And Pennywise's sinister laughter echoed in the darkness.

 **So I never saw the new "IT", but I did watch the 1990 miniseries, and some of the scenes in this fic were heavily inspired by that version. But the Pennywise in this story looks like the newest one.**

 **Right now I am NOT taking any more requests until the current ones are finished. But you're more than welcomed to review! :)**


	3. Vengeance

**Little-miss-irate wanted a one-shot from the "Mourning" universe, focusing on Leo avenging Mikey's death by slaying the Shredder and all his henchmen.**

 **(cue Kill Bill theme! XD)**

 **This chapter will be rated M due to disturbing content!**

 **NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes which I will fix later.**

He watched the sparks rise up from the fire and into the dark sky, along with his little brother's soul.

Standing next to him, his brother Donnie watched the burning with apathy. Since the night of Mikey's death, the genius Turtle became cold and emotionless, like a robot. He barely spoke to anyone and his auburn eyes were distant and dull.

April stood on the other side of him, sobbing for her little brother. Casey knelt on the ground, watching over the unconscious Raph. There were tears spilling out of the boy's eyes as well.

On the surface, Leo seemed calm and forlon, staring numbly at the burning pyre. But there was burning desire within him. A desire to avenge Mikey's death.

He left in the middle of the funeral, and April caught up with him and begged him to stay with his family in this time of mourning. But nothing would dissuade him from taking vengeance. Nothing.

Heads were going to roll tonight.

 _I swear, Mikey...I'll make them all pay._

* * *

"Do you think they'll be back?" Fishface turned to Rahzar as they stood guard outside Shredder's hideout. A bandage was taped onto his nose from Raphael breaking it yesterday.

Rahzar looked at his comrade. "Do I think who will be back?"

"The Turtles. Now that Shredder has killed one of them, you think they'll be back for blood?"

Rahzar jerked his head back and let out a raspy laugh. "For blood?! No way! They don't have it in them! Besides, we've broken them. They're too devastated to try and take us on."

"Hmmmm...I'm not so sure about that," Fishface said a bit nervously. "After all, these are the _Turtles_ we're talking about."

The mutant dog wasn't the least bit fazed and sneered at Fishface. "You scared, Xever?"

"Perhaps a little," Fishface muttered, still looking around him cautiously.

Unbeknownst to them, as they continued to converse, a figure moved in the shadows, watching them with predatory white eyes. He slowly reached for the katanas behind his shell and unsheathed them. One of Rahzar's ears twitched at the hissing sound that they made and he whipped his head in its direction.

Fishface noticed Rahzar's alarmed expression and followed his gaze, but he saw nothing in the dark alley. "What is it? You hear something?"

Growling, Rahzar slowly crept toward the alley and bared his teeth. "Who's there?" he hissed. When no one answered, he took another step forward and sniffed for any strange scents. There was none. He slowly began to relax and turned back to Fishface. "False alarm. Heh. Maybe I _am_ a bit nervous ab-"

Rahzar gasped as the tip of a sword suddenly went right through his chest. Blood spilled down his chin as he gurgled before he fell to the ground dead, the life in his golden eyes having faded away. Fishface stared on in horror as Leonardo slowly approached the body and pulled the sword out before flicking it. Some of the blood splattered onto Fishface's abdomen and face and he yelped and tried desperately to wipe it off of him.

"You..." Xever slowly backed away from the Turtle, "you _killed_ him...!"

Leo only stared at him with cold white eyes. "So?" he casually said, as if killing Rahzar was as insignificant as squashing a fly.

That was when Fishface noticed that there was no one else around. "Wait...where are the two other Turtles?"

Leo shook his head. "It's just me tonight," he said.

This gave Fishface some confidence. After all, it was just one Turtle. If he was facing all four...er, three of them, then he'd be worried. But then again, Leonardo was supposed to be the most skilled fighter of the bunch, and it was obvious that he was out for blood. Putting on a brave face, he pulled out his butterfly knives and unfolded them, trying to still his shaking. "You're a fool. You can't take all of us on your own. I thought you learned that a few years back."

Leo merely smirked at him, although something about it sent chills down Xever's spine. "I'm the not the same as I was then. I guarantee you that."

Snarling, the fish mutant charged at Leo and viciously attacked him with his knife. But the master knife-fighter was no match for the former leader of the Ninja Turtles, for the latter dodged every swipe, punch, and kick. Never had Xever seen him move with such agility and speed, even in their most intensive of battles. In fact, it was as if Leo was merely toying with him.

But eventually Leo grew tried of playing and with one swipe sliced both of Fishface's arms. The fish mutant screamed shrilly as yellow blood gushed out of his wounds. He was too distracted by the overwhelming pain to notice Leo targeting his robotic legs. As soon as the legs were sliced off, Fishface dropped to the floor and flopped around like a regular fish.

The sight amused Leo and he chuckled cruelly as he stepped on Fishface's leg. "Now you really _are_ a fish, Xever."

Despite the pain he was in, Fishface glared up hatefully at the Turtle. "You sadistic son of a...!"

The smile on Leo's face dropped. " _I'm_ sadistic? Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black? Your master tortured Mikey to death, and you made us watch. Not only that but you also _laughed_ at his suffering." He sheathed one sword but held onto the other, aiming it up at Fishface's chest. The frightening predatory smile slowly returned as he started to raise the sword a bit. "I'm only giving you a taste of your own medicine."

A horrendous scream filled the night sky as Leonardo preceded to gut Xever like a fish.

* * *

"You seem tense, Master."

Shredder slowly lifted his head and looked over at Tiger Claw, who stood beside his throne. Indeed, for some reason that he could not fathom, the monstrous mutant had been troubled since that fateful night. But he tried not to appear so in front of his henchmen. "I am fine, Claw. Just...a little tired."

Instead of the pressing the issue further, Tiger Claw merely nodded. Bebop and Rocksteady sat at the bottom of the stairs, casually chatting and joking with each other.

"So, Rock, think I should get a nose ring?" the scrawny pig asked his best friend. "You know, to add some style to my already awesome image?"

"I do not see any reason not to," the Russian rhino said with a smile.

A loud banging sound startled them both and nearly made them jump five feet off the ground. Tiger Claw instinctively reached for his pistol in his pouch while Shredder sat up straight in his throne. Hyperventilating, Baxter Stockman came flying into the room. He landed on the floor stumbling a bit and ran up to the stairs, looking up at his master with scared bug eyes.

"M-Master Sh-Shredder," Baxter stammered. "One of the-the Turtlezzzzz is here!"

Immediately Saki tensed. "What did you say?"

"Itzzzzz Leonardo, Master," the fly gulped. "He izzzzzz back and hezzzzzz m-mad! He-Hezzzz crazzzzzy-mad! Hezzzz aleady killed Rahzzzzzar and Fishface!"

Tiger Claw's eye widened. "Rahzar and Fishface...?" he whispered in awe. "They're both dead?"

Shredder couldn't believe what he was hearing. The Ninja Turtles...taking revenge? Wasn't that against their moral code? Or perhaps the they were even more dangerous and deadly than he had presumed?

No sooner had he finished that thought when Leo, himself, stepped out of the dark halls and into the room. Yellow blood, which obviously belonged to Fishface, was splattered all over his plastron. And his blank white eyes were so cold and bloodthirsty that it gave him the appearance of a demon. His lips curled into a snarl and he pointed a bloody sword at Shredder. "You're mine, Saki," he hissed. "Tonight will be your last."

Shredder got out of his throne and slowly made his way down the steps with Tiger Claw following close behind him. "You wish to avenge your brother's death on your own? Clearly you did not learn your lesson from last time." He turned to the mutant pig and rhino duo. "Bebop! Rocksteady! Make him suffer!"

Bebop gulped as he nervously approached the raging Turtle. "Uh, s-sure thing, boss!" He then activated his cloaking device, and the invisible pig circled his target.

Leo closed his eyes and calmly waited for the right opportunity to strike. When he felt Bebop's presence getting close enough, he twirled and struck him somewhere. The invisibility wore off immediately and Bebop fell to the ground, wailing and gripping his bleeding shoulder.

Rocksteady's eyes widened at the sight of his best friend badly injured. "BEBOP!" He roared in rage as he charged at the Turtle who dared to hurt the pig, his massive horn pointed at him.

Leo smirked and ran toward the charging rhino headfirst. He took one big leap and aimed the tip of his sword in between Rocksteady's eyes. There was a look of surprise on the rhino's face as the blade pierce right through his skull and brain.

Baxter put a deformed hand to his mouth in shock as Rocksteady dropped to the ground dead, and Leo pulled his katana out of his head. Tiger Claw was stunned. Bebop was moaning and sobbing for his dead friend. Shredder stared on impassively, before he turned to his faithful bodyguard and second-in-command.

"Tiger Claw, kill him."

Tiger Claw glanced over at his master in surprise before taking a deep breath and stepping down the stairs to confront the Turtle. He pulled out his pistol and immediately began firing. Of course Leo dodged every laser and knocked the gun out of Claw's hand. The tiger refused to back down and began to wildly kick and scratch at him.

At one point the razor-sharp claws of his metal hand managed to slice the blade of one of Leo's swords in half. Leo looked at what was left of his katana before narrowing his eyes in fury and taking one swipe of his other katana. He had sliced Tiger Claw's metal arm off, and before the tiger could get away in time, he sliced his other arm off.

Claw screamed in pain and dropped to his knees, completely armless now. Leo approached him and raised the sword over his head, preparing to execute the tiger.

In desperation, Claw turned to his master and looked at him with a pleading eye. "Master Shredder! Please! Don't let him-!"

Before he could finish, his head was sliced off his shoulders, and his body fell limp to the ground. Leo looked up at his two remaining targets and smirked. "Five down, two to go." He lazily rested his sword on his shoulder and slowly approached Stockman in a menacing manner.

Stockman began to back away, waving his hands out in front of him. "N-No! No, p-p-pleazzzz..." His large insect head was then sliced off his shoulders, and Leo stomped on it with all his might, causing yellow-green goo to splatter all over the floor.

Now only his main target remained standing. Even though Saki had this dreadful feeling that tonight would indeed be his last, he brushed that fear aside and chuckled. "You are a fool to think that you can defeat me on your own. But not even the four of you put together would give you an advantage over me. Not the slightest."

He expected the Turtle to disregard his statement and blindly charge at him. But instead he smirked and said, "You're right. That's why I'll cheat."

Leo then threw a small vial at the Shredder, who immediately reacted by swiping his hand at it before it could reach his face. The second the object shattered, a purplish gas was released and he unwillingly inhaled it all. He muscles suddenly stopped working and he was frozen stiff. No matter how hard his brain willed him to move, he could only stand with his arms hanging limp at his sides. He watched as Leo approached him with a malicious smile on his face.

"One of Donnie's latest inventions," he said. "A special kind of gas that causes complete paralysis. We've never actually tested it on anyone, though. So you're the first to experience it, and as we can see from the results, it actually does work and is a complete success."

He got up nose to nose with the Shredder, pointing the tip of his katana at the mutant's blue beating heart. "I could pierce that rotten heart of yours right now," he whispered venomously. "But even that wouldn't be enough. I am going to make sure that you suffer like you never have in your final moments, the same way you made my brother suffer."

During the next several minutes, all Shredder could do was watch helplessly as Leo eyed each body part and slashed it with his katana. His agonizing, inhuman screams echoed in the room and blue blood was splattered everywhere.

And Leo was laughing the whole time as though it was a game.

Eventually Shredder fell on his back, still paralyzed from the gas, but Leo did not stop torturing him. He weakly opened his glowing blue eyes and looked up at the Turtle that continued to stab at him.

"Ple...ease..." he rasped.

Leo stopped and leaned in close to Saki's face, eyes still white. "What's that?"

"Please..." Shredder said a little louder, "...kill...me..."

The corners of his mouth slowly lifted into a cruel, sadistic smile. "Kill you?" he chuckled. "No. No, you won't get off that easily, Saki."

...

After nearly thirty minutes of slashing, it was finally over. Oroku Saki had drawn his last breath. In Leo's hand was his blue heart that was no longer beating. The Turtle took in a deep breath and closed his eyes, lifting his head to the ceiling and ultimately to the place where his brother's soul resided.

"I did it, Mikey," he whispered. He opened his eyes and looked down at the heart in his hand. "But the war is far from over." He squished the organ and dropped it on the ground, deliberately stepping on it as he left the building.

 **Again, I am NOT taking any more requests at the moment, but reviews are always welcome! :)**


	4. See You Again In The Next Paradise

**Even though I consider the Apocalyptic arc as an alternate reality instead of the real ending, I wanted to explore it in this fic. This chapter is for guest Brofluff, who requested a one-shot about Mikey getting a "boo-boo" and Raph comforting him. So I expanded it by including the future episodes.**

 **NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes which I will fix later.**

 _Six-year-old Mikey looked down at his bleeding knee. The sight of the blood running down his leg and the pain he felt made him want to cry. Before he could open his mouth, though, Raph came running into his bedroom, his eyes full of worry._

 _"Mikey?! You okay?!"_

 _Mikey looked up at him with confused teary eyes. "Raph? How'd you know I got hurt?"_

 _Raph shrugged his shoulders and knelt down on the floor in front of him. "I dunno. I just knew. Let me take a look at that." He inspected his brother's injury and looked back up at his brother with a warm smile and eyes full of love. "You'll be okay, Mikey. Big Bro is here for ya."_

 _Sniffling, Mikey smiled gratefully at him._

* * *

Since childhood, whenever Mikey stubbed his toe or sprained his ankle or got a boo-boo, Raph would get this feeling in his gut that his little brother was hurt. It was a special connection they shared from the moment they hatched in the pet store.

Even now after fifty years of being separated from each other, they still had that strong bond. And lately Raph had this feeling that Mikey was slowly slipping away.

The others never noticed it, but Raph did. And he knew that Mikey would want for him to keep that to himself so that Leo and Donnie wouldn't feel distraught. After all, they've already been through so much in the last fifty years, with Donnie losing his original body, as well as April, and Leo mutating into a hideous monster.

Every day he felt his brother withering away even further. Perhaps it was because he ate nothing but rotten preserved pizzas in that abandoned restaurant for years. That stuff couldn't possibly be healthy to eat after all. Or perhaps it was because he was just tired. Mikey was always the most optimistic and energetic one of the group, but he wasn't the strongest, and he always took the loss of a loved one the hardest. He lost all his friends after the M bomb dropped and wiped out New York. Living all alone with the nothing but the memories of his lost friends and family for years must've been slowly killing him, both physically and mentally.

Whatever the cause, the time for Mikey's departure was at hand. And Raph wasn't prepared to say goodbye.

Mikey of course would try to hide his suffering with a smile every day, cracking jokes and swimming around in the watering hole, doing backflips and even belly-flops. He could fool the others, but not Raph.

One night, as the entire family sat around a campfire roasting deer meat from their hunt, Raph noticed that Mikey was having a particularly hard time staying awake, dozing off and leaning his cheek against his staff.

He nudged his brother's shoulder, waking him up. "Hey, you okay, Mikey?"

As expected, the mystic smiled tiredly at him and nodded. "Sure, Big Bro. I'm perfectly, positively K-O."

At that response, the others looked at him weird.

"Um, don't you mean, OK, Mikey?" Donnie asked, tilting his metal head a bit.

Mikey slowly blinked. "Huh? Oh, yeah, I meant to say that."

"Holy Chalupa," Mira looked at him with concern, "you haven't been yourself lately. Are you ill?"

"Of course not, young dudette," Mikey said. "I'm fit as a fish bone!"

Raph raised an eye ridge at him. "A fish bone? Oh, yeah, that sounds reassuring."

Mikey snorted and picked up his meat on a stick. "You guys worry too much. I'm fine!" But then his hands started to shake as he brought the stick up to his teeth.

Leo, who sat next to him on their log, reached over and held the tiny stick still with his massive disfigured hand, allowing Mikey to take a bite. But the smaller Turtle didn't even have the strength to bite down on the meat. He just sat there with his mouth open, barely moving his jaw up and down.

"Maybe you should rest for a while, Mikey," Leo softly told him, gently patting his shell.

Mikey shook his head, the smile still plastered on his wrinkled face. "Nah, bro. I don't need to sleep."

"Yes, you do," Raph stood up and offered his hand to Mikey. "Come on, Mikey. Let's get you back to the hut."

Mikey began to protest. "Raph, I don't need to-" He stopped short when he saw the sad, understanding look in Raph's green eyes, the same look he always had whenever he sensed his little brother was hurting.

Raph knew. They both knew.

With a heavy sigh, Mikey nodded and took Raph's hand. "Okay, Raph. Take me back."

Very gently, Raph picked him up bridal style, and Mikey looked over at the rest of his family. "See you guys in the morning."

As Raph carried him away, Mikey watched with tears in his eyes as his brothers and Mira continued to laugh and converse with each other at the campfire.

"They'll be okay, Mikey," Raph whispered to him. "I promise."

Mikey closed his eyes and nuzzled his beak against Raph's neck. "I know." He smiled to himself as he felt bits of hair touching his face. "You're starting to grow your beard again."

* * *

They didn't return to the hut that night. Instead, Raph took him to an open field from which he could get the best close-up of the mountains and the best view of the stars above them.

Raph gently laid Mikey down and the mystic sighed in content as he rested his head on the cool soft grass. Several daisies tickled his face and it made him chuckle. The view above him was absolutely stunning. He could even see the Milky Way, a sight he certainly could not see in New York years before.

"Beautiful," he murmured, before turning to Raph and patting on the spot next to him. Raph sat down with grunt and looked up at the stars with him.

"Yeah," he softly said with a smirk. "It _is_ beautiful. We truly are in Paradise. And we never would have made it here without you, Mikey. It's all thanks to you."

Mikey sighed and shook his head. "I only made the map, Bromeo. We found the Oasis together. We did it as a family."

They remained silent for a while, watching the stars and enjoying the view of the mountains. But all the while Raph could hear Mikey's raspy breathing. The sound broke his heart. Instinctively he reached for Mikey's hand and held it, soothingly rubbing his thumb over Mikey's.

"Raph?"

"Yeah, Little Brother?"

"Is it...okay if I go now?"

Raph couldn't help but choke back a sob. He tried to control his trembling and sucked in a deep, shaky breath. "Y-Yeah, if you-you want to, Mikey. If you're ready, then yeah."

Mikey turned his head and looked up at Raph with tired light blue eyes. "But...what about you? Is that what _you_ want?"

Raph looked down at him with glassy emerald eyes and a sad but warm smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "I want you to stay with us forever, Mikey. But I know you've been in a lot of pain lately, and I don't want you to suffer anymore. What I want is for you to be happy, Mikey." He squeezed Mikey's hand but not too tightly, being careful not to break his frail, skinny form. "It's okay to go to sleep now. I promise."

Mikey frowned and looked up at the sky above him. "I'm not sure if I can now. It's just...we've been separated from each other for over fifty years. It's not fair that we have to part ways again not long after we've finally found each other."

Raph released his hand and crawled over behind him, gently lifting his head and resting it on his lap. He began to rub Mikey's forehead with his thumb. "It's okay, Mikey. I understand. And so will Leo and Donnie. You were the one who led us to the Oasis. If anyone deserves a good long rest, it's you. Maybe I can help you go to sleep."

The mystic couldn't help but chuckle weakly. "What, you gonna sing me a lullaby or something?"

The warrior smirked. "I just might."

Mikey looked up at him in surprise before he smiled and closed his eyes, sighing softly. "Yeah, sure. I'd like that...even though you sound like a braying donkey when you sing."

Raph laughed tearfully and lightly patted Mikey's freckled cheek. "So...what do you want me to sing?"

Mikey thought about it for a moment. "Hmmm...how about...that song Master Splinter used to sing to us when we were little?"

Raph frowned. He was still recovering the memories that he had lost after the blast, including those of their father. But as he tried to remember, a familiar Japanese lullaby suddenly popped in his head, and he knew what to sing to his baby brother.

He looked up at the starry sky and began to sing softly.

 _Nennen korori yo, Okorori yo_

 _Boya wa yoi ko da, Nennen shina_

 _Boya no omori wa, Doko e itta?_

 _Ano yama koete, Sato e itta_

 _Sato no miyage ni, Nani morotta?_

 _Denden taiko ni, Sho no fue_

As he sang the lullaby over and over again well into the night, he slowly drifted off to sleep, still in kneeling position...

* * *

He woke up to a bright light that shined like the sun and he had to shield his eyes. In the distance, he could make out blurry figures. As his vision slowly cleared up, he was surprised to see all his old friends standing in one large group. The Mutanimals, Shinigami, Karai, Casey, April, and even Splinter, himself. They were all there, smiling and waving at him.

He was about to speak when he felt a warm hand touch his shoulder. He turned to his right and saw Mikey, who was a teenager again. He looked down at his own body and realized that he, too, had reverted back to his teenage years before the bomb exploded fifty years ago. "Mikey? What is this?"

Mikey smiled his usual bright smile and gave Raph a big, warm hug, affectionately nuzzling his shoulder with his beak. "I'll see you again in the next Paradise. Love you, Big Bro."

Before Raph could say something to him, Mikey pulled away and ran toward the group that awaited him. The bright light returned and Raph was blinded, but he could hear Mikey's voice calling out in the distance.

 _"Booyakasha!"_

* * *

"Raph! Wake up!"

Raph awoke with a startle as he felt someone shake him. Kneeling in front of him were Donnie and Leo, and he realized that it was already morning. The sun peeked through the moutains and birds chirped merrily as they flew over their heads. "Guys? What...?"

"When we arrived at the hut, you two weren't there," Donnie said, his tone sounding a bit sad. "So we went looking for you."

"Raph," Leo spoke softly, his midnight blue eyes full of sadness, "why didn't you tell us that Mikey was sick?"

"Well, Mikey didn't want to-" His eyes widened as he suddenly remembered something. "Mikey!" He looked down and saw that Mikey was still asleep in his lap.

Only he wasn't sleeping.

At first Raph wanted to deny it, but the realization slowly sank in as he studied his brother's face. He looked so peaceful, like nothing could ever hurt him again. While he was relieved that his brother was no longer suffering, he was also greatly saddened by his departure.

His shoulders started to shake as he leaned down to press his forehead against Mikey's and wept. Donnie and Leo both wrapped his arms around him and mourned their little brother together.

As he nuzzled Mikey's face, with his tears dripping down onto the other Turtle's freckled cheeks, Raph whispered so that no one else could hear him.

"I love you, Little Brother. See you again in the next Paradise."

 **Again, NOT taking any more requests at the moment, but reviews are more than welcomed! :)**

 **By the way, the lullaby that Raph sang to Mikey was the Edo Lullaby.**


	5. Broken Toy

**Someone requested a one-shot in which Mikey is kidnapped and tortured before he is rescued by his brothers, and afterwards he acts so angry and bitter toward them, although they try to help him. The details of Mikey's traumatic experience was left up to me. And so I thought of something that would hopefully send a positive message to those who have been through something similiar.**

 **WARNING: This chapter is rated M for EXTREMELY disturbing content.**

 **NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes which I will fix later.**

"Mikey...please-"

 _"I SAID GO AWAY!"_

Mikey threw his Unicorn Man action figure at the door, and it broke into pieces upon impact. Angry tears continued to pour down his face as he laid back down on his bed and pulled the covers over his head.

Outside his bedroom, he could hear Donnie sigh in defeat and walk away. As soon as his brother left, he buried his face in the pillow and wept.

He wished everyone would just leave him alone...

...

 ** _"STOP!" he screamed pleadingly as he was forced on the table facedown. The cold, clawed black hand pressed down on his neck, nearly crushing him. From the corner of his eye, he could see his captor smiling sadistically at him, baring his sharp, jagged teeth._**

 ** _"Please..." Mikey squeaked, tears streaming down his freckled cheeks._**

 ** _"Shhhh...just relax," the stranger chillingly shushed him. "Let it happen." He started to nibble at the short ends of Mikey's mask._** ** _"Let it happen..."_**

...

"Still no progress?" Leo tiredly asked Donnie, who dragged himself into the living room.

The genius Turtle sighed and shook his head.

Sitting next to Leo on the couch, Raph clenched his fists and snarled. In a fit of rage, he grabbed a pillow and threw it across the room. "RRRRAAAAHHH! I **HATE** THIS! WHY WON'T HE TALK TO US?!"

Leo tried to soothe his brother's anger. "Raph, calm down. We need to be-"

"DON'T EVEN START, LEO!" Raph screamed in his face. "It's been two weeks already! TWO WEEKS!"

"I know, Raph," Leo calmly said, his hands raised. "But we can't force it out of Mikey. He needs to come to us when he's ready."

"And if he never does?" Raph snarkily remarked. "Huh? What do we do then, _Sensei_?"

Now Leo was becoming irritated and he narrowed his eyes at his brother. "Raph, not this again," he sternly said.

"Enough!" Donnie barked, earning a surprised look from both brothers. "The last thing we need right now is more fighting! We need to start acting like adults instead of children for Mikey's sake!"

Leo sighed dejectedly and nodded his head. "You're right, Donnie. Sorry."

Raph only growled and tore off the couch, stomping to his room and slamming the door shut.

...

 ** _"MIKEY?!"_**

 ** _Raph tore the door down and ran into the lab where his little brother was being held. He was horrified to see Mikey curled up on the floor next to a table. His arms and shoulders were covered in swollen red bumps. His blue eyes were trembling and unfocused, and his breathing was uneasy._**

 ** _"Mikey!" Raph started to run to him, but then he sensed something come down upon him from the ceiling. He jumped out of the way in time, and was now face to face with Mikey's captor: a mutant scorpion humanoid with multiple red eyes._**

 ** _He sneered at Raph and licked his lips with his freakishly long tongue. "Oh, goody," he chuckled darkly._** ** _"Another Turtle for me to play with." His stinger twitched as he raised his tail._**

 ** _Raph felt anger burn in his veins. He was going to tear that smug bug apart with his bare hands._**

...

Raph attacked the practice dummy with everything he had. He hissed in pain when he felt the sting on his hand become aggravated. That stupid scorpion stung him in the midst of the battle, but thankfully Donnie was able to save both him and Mikey from succumbing to the poison. At least he was stung only once; Mikey was stung multiple times during his capture.

But there was something that Mikey was keeping from them. Something else had happened to him before they rescued him, something terrible. But for some reason, he refused to talk about it. And every time they tried to confront him about it, he'd only scream at them to leave him alone. Sometimes he'd even attack them, and Donnie had to sedate him once.

It frustrated Raph that his little brother kept keeping it to himself instead of turning to his brothers for help. More than anything, it hurt him to know that Mikey didn't trust him enough.

He punched the dummy one last time before he walked over to the couch and sat down, staring numbly at the game consoles that lay on the floor. He missed playing video games with Mikey. He missed laughing and having a good time with him. He even missed being hit in the face with water balloons and chasing him around the lair immediately afterwards.

He just missed Mikey.

Subconsciously he reached to touch the teeth marks on his right shoulder.

...

 ** _"I SAID DROP IT ALREADY!" Mikey screamed in Donnie's face. "I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT ANYMORE!"_**

 ** _The doctor of the family flinched away, but he still tried to calm his raging brother. "Mikey, it's okay," he gently told him. "We just want to help. But we can't if you won't talk to us."_**

 ** _"Donnie's right, Little Brother," Leo joined in, looking at Mikey with sad eyes. "Whatever's bugging you, you have to let us know. That's what family's for."_**

 ** _Mikey only glared at his eldest brother hatefully and shook his head. "No," he hissed. "Go away."_**

 ** _Raph, who stood at the doorway of Mikey's bedroom, sighed in frustration and stomped over to the bed, grabbing Mikey by the shoulders and giving him a shake. "Alright, that's it! I've had it with this hateful attitude of yours! You'd better start-!"_**

 ** _"RRRAAAAAHHH!" Suddenly Mikey bit down hard on Raph's arm and the older Turtle screamed in pain. The others immediately moved in to pry Mikey off of him. Teeth marks were on Raph's shoulder by the time they managed to pull Mikey away, and they even started to bleed._**

 ** _Mikey screamed and writhed and kicked as Leo and Donnie held him down on the bed, and it scared Raph to watch. It reminded him of a scene from that movie The Exorcist. Mikey did, indeed, look like he was possessed, and for a moment, Raph truly believed that he was._**

 ** _As he struggled to keep Mikey down, Donnie turned to look at Raph. "Raph! You hold him while I go get the sedative!"_**

 ** _Reluctantly, Raph walked over to the bed and helped Leo hold Mikey down while Donnie ran to the lab. Even he, the strongest of the four, had trouble keeping Mikey down on the mattress. It was like the kid had superhuman strength, and again Raph wondered if Mikey really was possessed by an evil spirit. In less than a minute Donnie returned with a syringe and quickly injected Mikey with the sedative._**

 ** _Within seconds Mikey started to calm down and his arms and legs went limp. Donnie sighed sadly and gently patted Mikey's knee._**

 ** _"I'm so sorry, Mikey," he softly said. He really hoped that it wouldn't come to this, sedating his own brother._**

...

As he passed by the dojo, Raph thought he heard the sound of someone grunting and peeked his head in.

Leo was practicing his swordsmanship, but he was a bit sloppy in his moves, like he was unfocused. Or perhaps even angry.

"Leo?"

Said Turtle stopped and turned his head to see Raph walking into the room. He panted and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Hey, Raph."

"You okay, bro?" Raph asked, noticing the distress in his brother's voice.

Leo stared at him briefly before he closed his eyes and slowly shook his head. "No. Not really."

Raph nodded. "I hear you. Everything's so messed up, ain't it?"

"Totally," Leo murmured sadly.

"I just..." Raph sighed and kicked at the floor. "I just wish Mikey would just talk to us, but it's like he's built this wall around him and is keeping everyone out. Maybe he's too ashamed or too scared. I dunno."

"I think I know what it is," Leo said, opening his eyes and revealing unshed tears. "As much as I hate to admit it."

"W-What?" Raph kinda knew what Leo was suggesting, but he'd rather deny it. It would totally destroy him if anything like _that_ were to happen to any of his brothers.

Leo closed his eyes again, the tears now sliding down his cheeks. "Raph, I think that..." he swallowed around the lump in his throat before he continued in a quiet, pained voice. "I think that Mikey was...was...oh, god...!" He covered his face with his hand and began to sob.

He was the leader! The Sensei! How could he have allowed this to happen to Mikey, the youngest and most innocent of them all? He silently prayed to his father for failing him. He would never forgive himself for as long as he lived.

"No," Raph shook his head and began to feel a little bit angry. "No, I don't believe that."

Leo sniffled and dried his eyes before looking at Raph. "Raph, I don't want to believe it, either. But we have to face reality and accept it if we're to ever help Mikey."

"No!" Raph began to raise his voice, still shaking his head. The very thought of Mikey being...it infuriated him! "No, that's not...! That can't happen! Not to Mikey! I wouldn't allow it! They'd have to kill me first!"

"Raph-"

"NO!" The hotheaded ran to the rack of weapons and flipped it. He grabbed the kamas that lay on the floor and sprinted toward the door.

"RAPH!" Leo caught him by the arm and held him a tight grip. "Wait!"

"LET GO!" Raph screamed, struggling against his brother with all his might. "I'M GOING AFTER THAT MONSTER! I'LL KILL HIM FOR HURTING MIKEY!"

"Raph, listen," Leo grunted as Raph continuously elbowed him in the plastron. "Killing that guy won't...won't make things better! Not for you or Mikey!"

"OH, YEAH?!" Raph glanced back at him furiously. "HOW WOULD _YOU_ KNOW, HUH?!"

"Because..." Leo looked away, a look of guilt and remorse on his face. "Because I already killed him, myself. After we rescued Mikey."

Raph instantly stopped struggling and looked at him stunned. "What...?"

...

 _ **"Heh...heh heh heh!" the scorpion chuckled weakly as he held his bleeding arm. He was being cornered by the Leader in Blue in an alley. But even if he was going to die, he would have the last laugh. "You know, I wish I could've played with you before I died...like how I played with your brother."**_

 _ **Leo instantly got a dreadful feeling in his gut. "What...What do you mean, 'play'?"**_

 _ **The scorpion's grin only grew wider and he chuckled again.**_

 _ **"What did you mean by that?!" Leo demanded, starting to fear the worst. "What did you do to my brother?!"**_

 ** _The bug started to laugh maniacally, infuriating him even further._**

 ** _"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Leo screamed as he charged at him, and before he even knew what he was doing, he stabbed the scorpion right between the eyes, instantly killing him._**

 ** _But he didn't stop there. He pulled the sword out and stabbed him in the same spot again, and again, and again, snarling like a beast. Pretty soon the mutant's head was split right in half, and Leo's conscience slowly returned._**

 ** _He looked at the bloody mess he had created in horror and remorse. Even as the rain came pouring down and washed the blood off his hands, he still felt dirty._**

...

"I let my anger cloud my judgement," Leo looked down at the floor in shame.

"Yeah, but...he got what he deserved!" Raph said, trying to comfort him. "Leo, you did nothing wrong."

Leo shook his head. "I did, Raph. Sensei said that revenge only leads to more pain. And he was right. I acted like a wild animal instead of a reasonable person and took someone's life, and now I have to live with this guilt for the rest of my life. And even after I killed him, nothing got better. In fact, everything took a turn for the worst." He looked up at Raph with wet eyes. "What Mikey needs, what _we_ need, is healing. And the first step is for Mikey to pour it all out. We need to help him with that."

Raph took a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh. "You're right, Leo. I've been approaching this wrong. Let me go talk to him. He trusts me more than anyone."

Leo looked a bit unsure but he nodded his head. "Okay. Just...don't push him too hard or lose your temper with him."

"I won't. I promise."

...

Mikey woke up to the sound of someone knocking on his door. "Mikey?" he heard Raph's voice, which was unusually soft. "I'm coming in, bro." He squeezed his eyes shut and pulled the covers over his head. The door creaked open and he could hear his brother's heavy footsteps enter the room.

Raph stopped when he noticed Mikey's most prized possession, his Unicorn Man action figure, lying in pieces on the floor. He picked them up before he continued on his way to the bed. He sat on the opposite side, giving Mikey his space, and fiddled with the figure's arm.

"I thought this was your favorite toy?" Raph quietly said. "Why would you break it?"

"Don't call it a toy," Mikey mumbled under the covers.

Raph flinched. _Smooth, Raphael. Real smooth._ "Sorry. I meant, uh, collectible."

"What does it matter?" Mikey sniffled. "It was gonna break someday anyway. Everything breaks, no matter what we do to protect it and keep it safe."

Raph closed his eyes, willing himself not to break down at that moment. He knew exactly what Mikey was implying here, and it absolutely broke his heart.

Mikey was comparing himself to a broken toy. Played with and abused to the point that it fell apart. And it was all because of that sadistic, perverted scorpion. But Mikey wasn't a toy. He was their brother. Their precious little brother.

"Mikey," Raph whispered, trying so hard not to cry, "we know."

Mikey paused before he spoke so quietly that Raph could barely hear him. "What?"

Raph hated to continue, but they both needed this. "We know what that guy did to you."

The freckled Turtle popped out from under the covers, eyes wide with fear. They knew. They knew about...

"N-No, he..." he stuttered, clutching the blanket so tight that his knuckles started to white. "N-Nothing like that h-happened. I...I was-"

"Mikey..." Raph couldn't help but let the tears escape from his eyes as he looked over at his brother. "It's okay."

Mikey shook his head, shedding tears of his own. "No...I-I wasn't..."

He didn't expect Mikey to come out immediately and walked over to the other side of the bed, sitting next to him. He then proceeded to pop the pieces of the Unicorn Man figure back in place. "You're right, Mikey. Everything breaks at some point, including people." He smiled sadly at Mikey as he handed him the now repaired toy. "But that doesn't mean they can't be fixed. Sure it won't be easy, and nothing will ever be the same again. But as long as we have each other, Mikey, we can get through anything, even this."

Mikey bit his lower lip and hugged himself, slowly rocking back and forth as the strangled sobs started to come out. "I..." he made a pitiful squeaking sound, "I feel so...dirty..."

Raph immediately wrapped his arms around his little brother, stroking his bald head. "You're not, Mikey. We still love you, and we always will, no matter what."

The dam that held back Mikey's feelings finally collapsed, and it all came pouring out as Mikey buried his face in Raph's chest and wailed at the top of his lungs.

Soon Leo and Donnie were entering Mikey's room, having heard his cries, and they sat down on the bed together and formed a protective group hug around their little brother.

"We're here for you, Mikey," Leo whispered in his ear.

"We love you," Donnie softly told him while rubbing the carapace of his shell.

"And we'll fix you," Raph kissed his freckled cheek.

And for the first time in weeks, as he basked in his brothers' love, Mikey smiled.

 **If you were ever sexually assaulted or touched inappropriately, don't keep it to yourself. Tell someone. Otherwise it will slowly kill you inside.**

 **A shout out to those who have come forward and let it all out, and a prayer for all who have been abused.**

 **I still have a few more requests to do so request box is still closed but reviews are always welcome. :)**


	6. Scare Prank

**This one-shot is for BrightLotusMoon and eeveemlp, both of them requested a fic in which Mikey keeps his powers and eeveemlp wanted him to use them on Halloween to scare people. :)**

 **This story takes place exactly one year after the Halloween arc.**

 **NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes which I will fix later.**

Grinning like the Cheshire Cat under his mask, Mikey tiptoed to the couch, where Raph was playing a video game. He crept up behind his brother and took a deep breath...

 _"BLAAAHH-AAAHH-AAAHH-AAAHH-AAAAAHHHH!"_

Mikey jumped onto the couch and made weird chanting sounds at the top of his lungs, waving his arms around.

Raph only continued to play his game, not even sparing his brother a glance. "Oh, hey, Mikey," he casually said.

Mikey's shoulders slumped. "Aww, man!" He took his mask off, revealing his pouty face. "You guys are no fun anymore! You're unscareable!"

"You can't scare us because you keep using the same tricks," Raph huffed. "You need to come up with something new."

"I can't!" Mikey whined, plopping himself down on the couch. "I tried every trick in the scare prank book!"

Raph raised an eye ridge. " _Every_ trick, huh?" He grinned as he paused the game and pulled out his phone. He pushed a few buttons before handing it to Mikey. "Here, take a close look."

Mikey looked closely at the screen. To his confusion, a video of a very cute kitten playing with a ball of yarn was being shown. His eyes became large and sparkly as he watched the kitten flop onto its back and paw at the ball. "Awwwww, that's so cute-"

Suddenly the close-up screenshot of a terrifying mutilated face with red eyes popped up and a horrible screeching sound was heard. Mikey screamed and fell off the couch while Raph threw his head back and laughed his butt off.

"Guess you still got a lot to learn!" Raph hugged his gut as he continued to laugh. Mikey's face was flushed with embarrassment and he sulkingly walked to his bedroom.

...

"Grrrarrr! Rawr!"

With his mask back on, Mikey practiced his growling in front of his mirror. But the more he practiced, the weaker his growls got as he started to realize that he was losing his scare mojo.

What was even worse was that none of his bros wanted to go trick-or-treating anymore on account of them being, as Leo would put it, "too old for that kid stuff." His brothers were quickly growing up into boring adults and they expected Mikey to do the same, but he wanted to remain a kid for as long as he could, even though he knew that that wouldn't be possible.

Disheartened, he took the mask off and sat down on his bed. "Just one more night of fun and candy," he mumbled to himself. "That's all I ask." His face lit up as he got an idea. "Yeah, that's it! I'll beg them for just one more Halloween and then it's hello adulthood!"

He jumped off the bed and hurried out of his bedroom and into the lab. "Yo, D! What do you say we-?"

Donnie was nowhere in the lab, and then he remembered that the genius Turtle had gotten sick from eating bad pizza (Or was it outdated Pop-Tarts? He couldn't remember.). So even if Mikey wanted to go trick-or-treating for the last time, it wouldn't be right to leave Donnie out of the fun. There would be no Halloween tonight.

Sighing in defeat, Mikey started to drag himself out of the lab when he noticed something awesomely cool on the table.

"No way...a freaking plasma ball!"

He ran to the table and watched the pink electric lights wiggle around in the globe. Donnie must've recently invented this and hasn't told anyone yet. Or maybe he didn't want to tell Mikey specifically because he was afraid that his brother would somehow accidentally break the ball.

Mikey squirmed with excitement. He always wanted to have a plasma ball of his own because they were so cool. Very slowly he reached to touch the glass...

He giggled as a single line of electricity connected to his hand, then he started to get a strange tingling sensation in his fingertips. Tiny blue sparks emitted from his arm, then they grew larger into bolts of lightening that quickly surrounded his entire body. The short ends of his mask started to lift up by themselves.

"What...what's happening?"

He screamed shrilly as he was suddenly sucked into the ball in a flash of lightning. The pink lights became blue as Mikey's voice screamed from inside the globe.

 _What the-? Hey! HEY! LEMME OUTTA HERE! HELP! DONNIE! LEO! RAPH! SOMEBODY!_

The globe tilted left and right as he struggled to get out, then the blue electricity finally escaped through the glass and bolted from one wall to the next like a ball in a pinball machine.

 _Ow! Ow! Ow! Ah! Help!_

Then the lightning hit the recently repaired Metalhead, and its eyes glowed blue as it started to move. _Whoa, no way,_ Mikey's voice spoke through the speakers as he looked down at his new body. He wiggled his hands and feet and chuckled in disbelief. _I'm...I'm Metalhead!_

He slowly got on his feet and moved around a bit before he broke into a silly dance, laughing in delight as he did. _Ha ha ha! This is awesome! Weird, but awesome! Heyyyy, wait a minute._ He rubbed his metal chin in thought as he looked around the lab. _If I can go inside plasma balls and robots, then maybe..._

His eyes locked on Donnie's laptop that was sitting on his desk. He shrugged his shoulders. _Well, it's worth a shot._ He zapped out of Metalhead and into the laptop. The screen flashed a blue light several times and made a whirring sound before it turned on. Mikey's face appeared on the screen and he pumped his fists victoriously.

 _Sweet! It worked! I can zap into computers too! Wait until the guys see this!_

Then he got a _brilliant_ idea, and his lips slowly formed a mischievous smile.

* * *

Raph pounded on the punching bag right after he finished the final round of his game. His hands felt numb after gripping the controller for so long so he decided to punch the feeling back into them. He never noticed the tiny lightning bolt that zapped into the phone in his belt. It dinged and he stopped punching for a moment to check his text messages. He received one from an unknown caller, and it read, "ICK MUSIC VID!".

Shrugging, he clicked on the message and it led him to a video of Ice Cream Kitty playing with a miniature guitar, singing in mews. Raph squinted his eyes and brought the phone closer to his face. "What the...? Ice Cream Ki-?"

Suddenly a close up of a Turtle's face popped up on the screen. His eyes glowed red and his screams were high-pitched and inhuman.

 _"AAAAHHHHH!"_ Raph screamed and dropped the phone in shock, backing up against a wall and clutching his chest as he tried to catch his breath. As he calmed himself down, he pondered over what that thing was. Come to think of it, that scary Turtle in the video looked awfully familiar, with its freckles and orange mask and-

Raph narrowed his eyes in anger. He should've known. "Mikey..." he growled.

...

"MIKEY!"

He pounded on his brother's door and continued to yell for him. "Open this door, you little twerp, before I break it down!"

"Raph!" Leo slid the dojo doors open and stomped over to his younger brother. "Will you stop that yelling! Donnie's trying to rest and I'm trying to meditate! What's your problem, anyway?"

"Mikey's the problem!" Raph angrily yelled. "He sent me this stupid screamer video and made me jump nearly ten feet out of my shell!"

Leo raised an eye ridge and crossed his arms. "So?"

"SO?! Leo, I could've had a heart attack! And he's gonna get the shell wedgie of his life for it!" He turned back to the door and pounded on it. "Mikey! Last chance! Open! The! Door!"

"Raph! Calm-!"

Too late. Raph kicked the door open and stomped into Mikey's room, searching for the little prankster. "Mikey, where are you?!" He looked under the bed and piles of empty pizza boxes, but Mikey was nowhere to be found. "He's hiding somewhere," he grumbled. "I just know it."

...

Meanwhile, in the world of the Internet, Mikey giggled like a madman, rubbing his palms together. _Oh, man! That was gold! I wish I could've recorded that moment! Now who will be my next jump scare victim? Hmmmm...Ooh! I know!_

* * *

In the O'Neil apartment, April's dad was throwing a Halloween party for his co-workers. Of course, April and Casey were more than welcomed to attend and they dressed up in costumes like everyone else. April was going as Beatrix Kiddo with a blonde wig to go with her outfit, while Casey dressed as Freddy Krueger. Casey was in the middle of telling a bad joke to April when a tiny blue lightning bolt zapped down from the telephone wires outside and straight into his phone, which was tucked in his back pocket.

"And then he said, 'Whatever you do, don't eat that cow!'" Casey slapped his knee as he laughed uncontrollably while April merely rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, good one, Jones," April deadpanned.

Casey's phone dinged and he pulled it out of his pocket to check his messages. He got one text from a mysterious caller. "'I-C-K MUSIC VID'?" he read out loud. Curious, he clicked on the message and a video of Ice Cream Kitty playing her guitar appeared on his screen. "Huh? Hey, April, check this-"

Mikey's scary face popped up and Casey dropped his phone, screaming like a girl. _"AAAAAAAHHHHH!"_

...

 _This is the best scare prank yet!_ Mikey declared as he traveled through the telephone wires. _I could probably scare the whole city if I wanted to! Yeah, maybe I could...I'll give everyone a Halloween they'll never forget!_

* * *

A small group of young trick-or-treaters giggled as they ran down the sidewalk to the next house, when all of their phones dinged simultaneously. They stopped and pulled out their phones, each of them receiving the same message from an unknown caller: "ICK MUSIC VID!".

A boy dressed up as Yoda looked at his friends confused. "You guys got the same text too?" They all nodded. "Weird. Let's watch it real quick." They all clicked on the message and watched the video.

"Awww," a girl in a fairy princess costume smiled as Ice Cream Kitty played her guitar. "What a cute kit-"

The moment Mikey's scary face popped up on the screen, all the kids screamed shrilly and dropped their bags of candy.

...

The tired, disgruntled plumber took a seat as the subway train started down the tunnel. It was a long day for him and he couldn't wait to get home and kick his feet up. Just then his phone dinged and he pulled it out to find that he had received a mysterious text message with a video link to it.

"'ICK MUSIC VID'?"

He clicked on the message and watched the video. "Yeesh, what an ugly looking ca-AAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Apparently he wasn't alone, as the other passengers began to scream at something that they saw on their phones.

...

"And as you can see from this chart, gentlemen, profits are escalating at a fast rate and-" The businessmen stopped in the middle of his presentation to the board when he heard his phone ding in his pocket. "Um, excuse me for a sec." He raised an eyebrow at the text message that he received and clicked on it.

Suddenly he screamed and dropped his phone on the glass table, earning very confused looks from the members of the board. This was very unprofessional behavior.

...

The weather lady smiled as she gestured to the map of the New York area on the screen behind her. "We should be expecting some rain tomorrow morning starting at 9 am until 10 am, and the rest of the day should be, um...uh..."

She trailed off as the screen suddenly showed a strange cat playing a small guitar. She glanced back and forth between the screen and camera and nervously chuckled. "Um, it looks like we're experiencing some technical-"

Mikey's screaming face popped up and the woman tumbled backwards as she let out a hair-raising scream.

...

"ARE YOU DUDES AND DUDETTES READY TO ROCK ON HALLOWEEN?!" a singer with wild long hair screamed into his microphone. The multitude of fans cheered in response, urging him to rock on.

The large screen that towered over the stage showed a close up of the band as they started to play metallic music. But in the middle of their song, the screen went static and the video of Ice Cream Kitty appeared, much to the confusion of the fans.

The singer noticed that their attention was focused on the screen and not him and looked up. "What in bloody...?"

As soon as the scary Turtle appeared, the whole crowd screamed in unison.

...

Suddenly every large screen in Times Square played the ICK music video, and nearly all of the citizens stopped whatever they were doing at the moment to look up. Some laughed, while others scratched their heads in confusion. They figured that it was some kind of special Halloween prank.

But as soon as the mysterious red-eyed Turtle appeared on the screens, all of Times Square echoed with screams of horror.

Mikey's face returned to normal and he laughed and waved at all the citizens. _Happy Halloween, New York!_

* * *

"Argh! Where is he?!" Raph picked up a cushion from the couch and threw it across the room in frustration. "He is so dead when I find him!"

From the other side of the living room, Leo watched and shook his head. "You know, if you keep making threats like that, he'll _never_ come out."

"Shut up!" Raph snapped, throwing another cushion at Leo, which he easily dodged.

They heard someone yawning and turned to see Donnie walking into the living room. "What's all the commotion about?" he groggily asked as he rubbed his eyes.

"Raph's having a fit because Mikey pulled a scare prank on him," Leo explained.

Donnie groaned and rubbed his hand over his face. "Well, could you tone it down a notch? I'm trying to get some sleep."

Suddenly Leo's phone began to ring and he pulled it from out of his belt to answer it. "Hello?"

 _Yo, Leo! It's me!_

"Mikey? Where are you?"

 _Look at your phone, bro!_

Confused, Leo pulled the phone away from his ear and looked down at the screen, and to his surprise, Mikey was waving at him. "Mikey, what...are you FaceTiming me or something?"

Mikey shook his head. _Nope! I'm in your phone, dude!_

Leo scratched his head. "'In my phone'? What are you talking about?"

But before he could get an explanation, Raph suddenly snatched the phone out of his hand and gave Mikey a murderous glare. "Mikey, when I find you, you're turtle meat!"

The freckled Turtle had a smug look on his face. _Oh, yeah? Well, guess what? You can't touch me, 'cause you're out there and I'm in here._ He turned around and pressed his butt against the screen, shaking it at Raph. _Oh, yeah! MC Hammer! Can't touch this! Can't touch this!_

Had Donnie not have snatched the phone from Raph in time, the hotheaded Turtle would've snapped it right in half in a fit of boiling hot rage. "Mikey, start explaining. What do you mean you're inside the phone?"

Mikey turned around and faced the screen, a wide, excited grin on his face. _Dudes, I dunno how it's possible, but I still have my sweet powers!_

"Powers? Wait, you mean, those electrical powers that Bishop supposedly drained out of you?"

 _I know, right?! Isn't this awesome?! Now I can zap into any computer and phone!_

"No, it's not awesome!" Donnie snapped. "Mikey, Bishop took those powers from you for a good reason! Remember what he told you a year ago? If those powers burn out, your body could be destroyed!"

The smile on Mikey's face slowly dropped as the realization kicked in. _Oh, yeah. Guess I didn't really think this through._

"We'll call Bishop and have him come here immediately," Leo announced. "Mikey, come out of that phone."

 _Okay, Leo._ Mikey closed his eyes and imagined himself zapping out of the phone, but nothing happened. He concentrated even harder, straining himself, but he was still trapped inside the phone. _Uh-oh. Hey, guys? I think I'm stuck._

* * *

"What do you think, Bishop?" Leo asked the Utrom, who arrived in the lair in a matter of minutes after he received their call.

"Hmmm, it's just as I feared," Bishop observed the phone in which Michelangelo was trapped. "Even though I drained most of his powers with the electrical dampening cannon, some of it apparently remained inside of Michelangelo and grew over the past year. These new powers have given him the ability to travel through electrical appliances and control them, but now they are burning out, and we need to get Michelangelo back into the physical world now...or he will disappear forever."

Mikey gulped inside the phone. _Forever...?_

While Raph and Donnie were freaking out and urgently shouting questions at Bishop, Leo took a deep breath and willed himself not to break down. "Okay, Bishop, hand me the phone." The Utrom gave it back to him and he looked down at Mikey, who was starting to cry. "Mikey, it's Leo. I want you to calm down and listen to me very carefully. Can you do that, little brother?" Mikey sniffled and nodded. "Good. Now I want you to take a deep breath and concentrate. Just imagine me reaching out to you. You can do this, Mikey. I know you can."

 _But Leo, I tried that alr-!_

"Mikey, you can do it," Leo softly said with a smile. "I believe in you."

Biting his lower lip, Mikey slowly nodded and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and did as Leo instructed him, imagining his oldest brother reaching to him. He lifted his hand and reached out to the screen in front of him, his body emitting a soft blue glow...

Lightening zapped right out of the phone and Leo dropped it. Mikey's body slowly transformed back into its physical form, and once he was normal again, his older brothers surrounded him but were careful not to touch him, especially Raph, who learned his lesson from last time. Oh, he was definitely going to give Mikey a shell wedgie later, but for now, he was just so relieved that his little brother was going to be okay.

"Mikey, you did it!" Leo praised his little brother, to which Mikey beamed.

"All of you stand back," Bishop ordered as he aimed that same cannon at Mikey, and the other Turtles instantly back away. "This time I'll make sure that every bit of electricity is drained from his body."

"Awwww man," Mikey groaned, knowing full well what was going to happen next. "Hey, Donnie, could you get a towel so I can cover myself with it?"

 _ZAP!_

 **HAPPY HALLOWEEN!**

 **Hope you liked it, BrightLotusMoon and eeveemlp!**


	7. Other Stuff

**This fic is for guest Akimii, who requested a tender brotherly moment between Raph and Mikey.**

 **NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes which I will fix later.**

When Raph offered to get him some ice cream, the first thing Mikey thought was that his hotheaded brother wasn't feeling very well. But despite how weird it felt, he eargerly accepted and the two went out for some brotherly bonding time, which they didn't have very often anymore.

They sat at the very top of the water tower, eating their ice cream and looking up at the beautiful full moon, which shines brighter than all of the city lights put together. Mikey sighed happily as he licked his strawberry and vanilla ice cream. He just loved moments like this.

"You know, me and the guys have been talking," Raph spoke as he continued to stare up at the glowing white orb. "About your future."

At this, Mikey looked over at Raph. He should've known there was motive behind this random act of kindness from his brother. "Oh, yeah? What'd you talk about?"

Raph looked uneasy and his Adam's apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed. "Well...about whether or not you should continue being a ninja."

Mikey just looked at him confused. "...huh?"

Raph gritted his teeth. He really wished that Master Splinter was still here, since he was better at this kind of stuff. "I mean, it-it's not like we don't believe in you or-""

"Hold up, Raph," Mikey cut him off. "Are you saying that you guys don't want me on the team anymore?"

He could hear the hurt in Mikey's voice and he couldn't bring himself to look him in the eye. "We'll always want you on the team, Mikey," he softly said, "whether you're a ninja or not."

"Then what are you saying, Raph?" Mikey pressed for an explanation.

Reluctantly, Raph turned his head to look directly at Mikey, but he still couldn't look into his eyes. "That...maybe you should think about doing...other stuff."

Mikey stared at him with an incredulous look for a moment, before he narrowed his eyes in anger. "What 'other stuff', Raph?" He sounded awfully calm but Raph knew better. "There's nothing else I'm good at."

Raph shook his head. "That's not true, Mikey. There are a lot of things you're good at."

"Yeah, cooking," Mikey muttered as he stared off into the horizon. "But that's about it. And sometimes you won't even eat the stuff I make 'cause it's too weird or too gross."

"Yeah, but most of the time, your cooking rocks! And you're talented in art. You draw better than everyone else in the lair-"

"You once told me that I draw like a two-year-old."

Raph winced with guilt as he remembered that he did, indeed, say that to Mikey once. "Uh..."

"Anything else you'd like to add, Raph?" Mikey sarcastically and bitterly asked.

He scratched the back of his neck as he tried to think of more. "Well, um...you're funny." He mentally slapped himself, but it was the best he could come up with.

Mikey closed his eyes and softly scoffed, shaking his head. "I'm funny, huh? Well, you guys sure don't act like it. Every time I crack a joke, you all yell at me or slap me instead of laugh."

"You _are_ funny, Mikey. It's just...you joke around _too_ much. That's exactly why we're having this discussion. You can't seem to take the missions seriously enough. You have a hard time focusing and you're always goofing off. And ones of these days, you're gonna wound up hurt. Or even worse."

"I can take care of myself, Raph!" Mikey started to raise his voice. "Just because I'm not perfect like you guys doesn't mean I can't do it! I do my best-"

"Yeah, but you lack _focus_ , Mike!" Raph raised his own voice. "Without focus, you can't reach your full potential! But we're not condemning you for that! We're just trying to protect you! You're not meant to be a ninja!"

Mikey stood up and was now screaming at Raph. "I **AM** A NINJA! I'M JUST NOT THE NINJA **YOU** WANT ME TO BE!"

Raph was left speechless by Mikey's outburst. Sure he saw Mikey mad before, but never this furious. His inner angry dude was definitely showing now. He watched as Mikey slowly calmed down his unsteady breathing and sat back down on the roof, refusing to look at him and instead focusing on whatever was in front of him.

He cast his eyes down at the chocolate ice cream that started to melt in his hand. He kinda figured that this conversation wouldn't end well, and seeing that betrayed look on his brother's face made him feel like a bad guy who was worse than even the Shredder, himself.

"Why now?"

He looked over at Mikey. "Huh?"

"We've lived and trained together for over sixteen years," he said in a voice so quiet and filled with sadness. "Why are we talking about this now?"

Raph closed his eyes and sighed heavily. "'Cause...Splinter's not around to guide us or look after us anymore. So we have to take care of ourselves and each other now. But you're our baby brother, Mike. You're our top priority, and if anything were to happen you, we'd have failed both you and Father."

Mikey finally looked at Raph, surprised and touched by this confession. He was beginning to see why his brothers were suddenly trying to pull him off the team. It wasn't because he was inconvenience; they were only trying to protect him and be the big brothers they were supposed to be.

He quickly finished up his ice cream before it completely melted and then turned back to Raph. "Look, Raph, I get it. You guys want to keep me from getting hurt. But this is _my_ life. You don't get to decide my future, I do. I know none of you think I can make it, but I can."

Raph looked down in shame at the now melted ice cream that dripped from his hand and onto the ground below, forming a small brown puddle.

"I know I'm not great," Mikey continued, looking up at the moon with wet eyes. "Every time I step into that dojo and see you guys being the perfect ninjas that Splinter always wanted, it feels like a slap in the face. And there wasn't a single time when I hadn't noticed Sensei's disappointed look every time I goofed up or goofed around. I know I'll never be as good as you guys, and Sensei knew it, too."

At that moment, Raph's heart broke for his little brother. Has he always felt this alone, and full of low self-esteem? "Mikey..."

"But I'm not gonna give up," Mikey looked at him with so much determination in his eyes. "No matter what. And I know Sensei would've wanted me to keep on fighting, even if I am a screw up."

 _Screw up_. Raph remembered when he called Mikey that back at the farmhouse, and even through the two made up afterwards, Mikey must've still been feeling the impact of those awful words and even believed them to be true.

He reached over to gently grab the back of Mikey's neck so that he could pull him closer and they could look deep into each other's eyes. "You're right. It's your life, Mikey. But don't keep fighting just for Master Splinter. Do it for yourself. You know you can do it, and that's all that matters."

Now Mikey's baby blues were welling up with tears but he was smiling.

"And let me tell you something," Raph warmly smiled back, "you might not be the best ninja, but you are the best friend a guy could ever have. There's no one else in the entire world I trust more than you. And whatever happens in the future, you know you can always count on me to stay at your side to the very end."

Laughing and choking back a sob, Mikey engulfed his brother in a warm hug, whispering thanks and loving things to him.


	8. For A Brother

**So joshua aquino106 requested this "Expendable" one-shot in which Raph sacrifices himself to save Mikey from Super Shredder and dies instead. This is a companion piece to "For A Sister" and "A Brother's Remorse". Better write it now while I'm inspired.**

 **NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes which I will fix later.**

"Bye, guys. I love..."

Before Mikey could finish saying goodbye, Shredder slashed him right across the face. He fell to the floor and spat out bits of blood. As the others cried out and begged Shredder to stop, the monster slashed at him again. And then again. And again.

Raph struggled with every fiber of his being to break free from Fishface's hold, ignoring the scratches that the other mutant's claws were making on his arms.

Mikey groaned and even began to whimper as the blades continued to assault him. He briefly squinted his eyes open and looked directly at Raph. In that short timespan of three seconds, Raph saw the endurable pain that Mikey was putting himself through all for his brothers and Karai. He was doing this to save them. To save _him_ , even though he didn't deserve to live after all the horrible things that he said to his little brother.

"S-Stop..." Raph softly pleaded to the Shredder.

But Saki never looked his way and continued to slowly kill Mikey. The freckled Turtle choked on more blood and puked it out.

That did it.

With a roar, Raph reverse headbutted Fishface, hitting him in the nose. The mutant fish let go of him and the Turtle charged straight at Shredder, whose glowing blue eyes enlarged in surprise.

Splinter finally looked up at the sound of Raph yelling and frantically struggled to break the chains that bound him. "Raphael! No!"

Saki stopped attacking Mikey and raised his blades in preparation for a fight. But to everyone's shock and Splinter's horror, Raph instead flung himself on top of Mikey, who had lost consciousness.

The older brother narrowed his now white eyes and let out a terrifying hiss. "Just try and hurt him again, you monster," he snarled.

Unimpressed, Shredder lifted a hand and slashed Raph across his left cheek. But the Turtle remained where he knelt, even after the impact of the blow, and he slowly looked back up at Saki and spat out a bit of blood at his feet in defiance.

With a guttural growl, Shredder struck him again, this time on the other cheek. But the Turte was like a rock, immobile and strong, and even though both of his cheeks were now bleeding heavily, he sneered up at his enemy, daring him to strike again.

"RAPH!" Leo screamed, desperately trying to pull away from Tiger Claw and get to his immediate younger brother.

"NO!" Donnie hoarsely yelled, tears now sliding down his cheeks.

"Saki, STOP!" Karai pleaded. Even she was starting to shed tears for the Turtle with whom she had the most strained relationship.

Splinter could only stare in horror, his brown eyes wide and his ears flattened.

Fishface smiled sadistically along with his friends, enjoying the show.

"Go on, tough guy," Raph gave him a bloody, toothy grin. "Hit me again." A single drop of blood that ran down his chin fell onto Mikey's now scarred cheek.

That single touch brought Mikey back to the world and he slowly regained consciousness. He groggily looked around and noticed that Raph was kneeling over him protectively. "R...Raph...?" he rasped.

Shredder sneered beneath his mask. "Very well," he coolly said before he dragged his blades across Raph's shell.

Raph threw his head back and screamed in pain, but he still refused to budge.

Mikey's blue eyes widened with fear. "R-Raph!"

The next body part Shredder picked was Raph's right arm, then his left, then the back of his head. Not a single part of Raph was spared from Shredder's assault. But Raph was determined to protect Mikey, even if it meant his life, and compared to Mikey's, it wasn't worth much anyway.

"Raph, stop!" Mikey pleaded, too weak to try and push Raph away. More and more blood splattered everywhere and dripped from Raph's body and onto Mikey, soaking his shell. He could see Raph's arms trembling and could hear his unstable heavy breathing.

He knew that Raph was quickly fading away.

"Stop, Raph," Mikey shut his eyes tight and the tears leaked out. "Please...!"

"M...Mike..." Raph grunted with each blow and it hurt to talk, but he needed Mikey to hear this. "It...ngh! It's...ok-ahhh! O-Okay...Little Brother."

Mikey opened his tearful eyes and shook his head. "Don't do this. Don't die."

Even through the pain, Raph managed to smile. The life in his emerald eyes was fading, but not the love for his little brother. "B-Better me than-ahhh! Better me than...you."

Before Mikey could retort, a terrible crunching sound echoed in the room and Raph became very still and stiff, his eyes wide and blank. Mikey's eyes slowly lifted to Shredder, who loomed over them and was pointing his blades downward.

The youngest Turtle swallowed and began to fear the worst.

Then he saw the tips of the blades sticking right through Raph's plastron.

 _"NOOOOO!"_ Both Leo and Donnie screamed at the top of their lungs. Mikey wanted to scream, but it was stuck in his throat.

Shredder pulled his blades out and immediately Raph went limp, falling on top of Mikey. Their cheeks were pressed together and Mikey began to gently nudge at Raph with his beak. "R-Raph...?"

But his brother never responded and remained still, his body only moving whenever Mikey nudged him.

Just then he heard a very faint whisper that only he could hear.

"S...Sor...Mike..."

Then he literally felt the life leave Raph's body. A gentle breeze brushed past everyone, as though Raph's soul had flown out of the building at that very moment.

"...Ah-Ahhh...!" Mikey let out a hushed, strangled scream as he struggled to embrace Raph, but he couldn't even lift his arms.

Shredder walked away from the two Turtles and toward Splinter, roughly grabbing him by the collar of his kimono and lifting him off the ground. The mutant rat hung limp in his grasp, not having the will to even fight back.

"Look, Yoshi," Saki forced him to look at his sons on the floor. "Look what you've brought upon yourself and your sons. Because of you, your youngest will forever bear scars both on his body and his heart. You will bear this guilt for the rest of your miserable, pathetic life." He carelessly tossed Splinter aside and ordered his men to let go of the other two Turtles, who immediately ran to Mikey and Raph.

"Farewell, Yoshi, Miwa," Shredder bid them goodbye as he stopped out of the warehouse with his henchmen following close behind.

Leo carefully rolled Raph off of Mikey and gingerly held his scared head. His bloodied red mask lay on the floor in pieces along with Mikey's. He felt so cold to the touch and the once brilliant emerald orbs in his eyes were now a dull grey-green.

"Raph," Leo whispered, his tears dripping onto his brother's pale cheek. He brushed his palm over Raph's eyes, closing them. With a choked sob, he brought Raph closer and buried his face in his bleeding neck.

Donnie cradled Mikey in his arms and reached to grab Raph's hand, gently rubbing his thumb over his older brother's scars. He sobbed along with Leo, bowing his head.

Karai, who was still in chains, completely lost it and collapsed to the floor, her entire body shaking with sobs of anguish and remorse. All of this happened because of her, and now Mikey had lost a brother.

All Splinter could do was lay and stare blankly ahead, completely broken and numb.

"Wh-Why is everyone crying?"

Everyone but Splinter looked at Mikey, who wore an unsettling grin on his face. "Did I miss something?"

Donnie stared down at Mikey, concerned about his brother's strange behavior. "M-Mikey?"

Mikey looked over at Raph, who was still being cradled in Leo's arms. "Raphie? Why are you taking a nap right now? And what happened to your face? Did you get your head stuck in a scratching post or something?" He started to giggle, but it sounded...wrong. He reached over to shake Raph's shoulder. "Come on, bro. Wake up. It's too early for bed."

Leo, whose face was caked in Raph's blood, glanced back at the door with wild eyes. He wasn't about to let Oroku Saki get away with this. Gently laying Raph's body down, he got up and unsheathed his katanas, heading for the exit doors.

Splinter heard Leo walk past him and lifted his head. "Leonardo," he called after him. The Turtle stopped dead in his tracks. "Wait. Do not go after the Shredder. Please."

Leo slowly turned his head and glared murderously at his Sensei. There was nothing but pure hatred in those cold white eyes. Hatred toward him. "After I'm done with the Shredder," he hissed as he pointed a sword at Splinter, "you're next."

With that, Leo slammed the doors behind him, out to avenge his brother's death.

...

Outside the warehouse, Casey and April were having an argument over whether or not they should move in to save the Turtles.

"That's it!" Casey kicked a nearby trashcan in frustration. "I'm going in!" But before he could reach the doors, Leo kicked them open and marched right past his friend, never even noticing him. "L-Leo?"

The Turtle stopped to briefly glare at him. The blood all over on his face made him look even more sinister.

"Leo, what-" April slowly and cautiously approached him. "What happened? Why is there blood all over your-?"

"Raph is dead," Leo snapped, his grips on the swords tightening even more to the point that his hands began to bleed.

Casey's eyes widened and he dropped his hockey stick. "Wh-What...?"

"Raph is... _dead_?" April choked out the word, finding it hard to believe.

Without saying another word, Leo continued on his way, revenge being the only thing on his mind at the moment. Casey and April sprinted inside to find a horrible, gruesome sight.

* * *

"Raphie, come on. You can't sleep forever."

Mikey was completely wrapped in bandages, and he joked to the others that he looked like a mummy. Of course, everyone else was too devasted to laugh and they knew that Mikey wasn't of sound mind.

He knelt over Raph's body in the dojo and sighed when his brother refused to wake up. "Fine, be that way." He tucked his teddy bear under Raph's limp arm. "You can sleep with my teddy until you wake up." He then rested his head on Raph's scarred plastron and circled his finger on it, being mindful of the lacerations. "It used to be your teddy bear, remember? Then you gave it to me so that I could sleep better."

The dojo door opened slightly and Karai peeked in. She was heartbroken to see Mikey like this, broken inside his mind and clinging onto the fantasy that his brother would soon wake up.

She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder and whipped her head around.

Donnie looked at her very tired, sad auburn eyes. "Is he still in there?"

Karai bit her lower lip and somberly nodded.

The genius Turtle sighed and slid the dojo door all the way open. He approached Mikey and knelt down on the floor next to him. "Mikey, I told you...you have to stay in bed or else you'll open up all those wounds again."

Mikey shook his head. "I'm fine, Donnie. You need to help Raph. He just can't seem to wake up. Maybe it's those Dream Beavers again."

Donnie noticed a growing red spot on the bandage around Mikey's left leg. "Look see? You're bleeding now."

"Donnie, I said I'm fine," Mikey repeated, growing more impatient with his older brother. "It's just a scratch."

Now Donnie was beginning to lose his patience. "'Just a scratch'? Mikey, you almost died! And if Raph hadn't have shielded you from Shredder's attacks, we wouldn't be sitting here taking right now!"

"Well, right now I want you to wake Raph up so that he can be talking with us!" Mikey screamed, before he went into a coughing fit. Specks of blood appeared on the carpet of the floor and Donnie immediately ran to the drawer for a handcloth.

"Mikey..." he tenderly wiped Mikey's mouth, "Raph's...never going to wake up, okay?"

"NO!" Mikey slapped Donnie's hand away. "You're wrong! He will!" He turned back to Raph and started to slap his cheeks. "Come on, Raph! Wake up!"

Raph's head snapped back and forth with each slap, but he never awoke.

This aggravated Mikey even further and he slapped Raph with more force. " _WAKE UP!"_

"MIKEY!" Donnie wrapped his arms around his brother and held him close. "Calm down!"

The youngest Turtle began to kick wildly as he screamed in fury. "NO! I WANT MY RAPHIE! I WANT MY BIG BROTHER!"

His foot accidentally kicked Raph in the face, and Mikey immediately stopped fighting. "Oh! Raph!" He managed to free himself from Donnie's hold and crawled over to Raph's body. "I'm so sorry, bro. I didn't meant to kick you." He wrapped his arms around Raph's neck and nuzzled him on the forehead. "I'll take care of you, Raph. Like how you always take care of me. I promise."

Donnie sighed in defeat and left Mikey alone with Raph, closing the dojo door behind him. He walked past Karai and headed straight for his lab.

"What are you going to do?" Karai called after him.

He stopped to briefly glance back at her. "I'm going to have to sedate him. He's not going to leave Raph's side and he can't keep hurting himself like this. I really hate to do this, but it needs to be done."

She watched Donnie step into the lab and sat down on the couch with a heavy heart. The Hamato family was falling apart before her very eyes, and Donnie was doing everything he can for his brother and father. Splinter had locked himself in Raph's room, reliving that horrible night when he lost his baby over and over again in his head. No one could persuade him to come out, not even to eat something. Donnie talked to her about resorting to a feeding tube should their father continue to refuse to eat or drink.

She jumped when she thought she heard a noise and reached for her katana, looking over the couch and directly at the entrance. When she realized that no one was there and it was probably just rats scurrying about in the sewers, she relaxed but only a little.

She had been preparing for _his_ return, and although she didn't want to fight him, if he presented a threat to her father or any of hey brothers, she would not hesitate to kill him where he stood.

It wasn't Oroku Saki she was worried about. No, she figured that the monster was dead by now, slaughtered by none other than Leonardo. It was the Turtle's return that she dreaded. After all, he promised to come after Splinter once he was finished with Shredder. And after seeing that crazed look in Leo's eyes last night, there was no doubt in Karai's mind that the Turtle meant what he said and was going to go through with it.

The once honorable sword-yielder was no longer her friend, but was now her enemy. The question was, which one of them would walk out of the lair alive should he ever come back for Splinter?

With a deep sigh and her eyes brimming with tears, Karai hugged the sheathed sword close to her chest and waited...

 **And in case you're wondering...nope, I'm not gonna expand on this story. Sorry! :/**


	9. Apologies, Alone

**These two requests are for Starfire201. Set in the "Akari" universe.**

 **NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes which I will fix later.**

 _Apologies_

The doorbell rang and Casey hurried to answer it. "Oh, boy!" he said to himself excitedly as he reached for the knob. "I'll bet it's that limited edition hockey stick signed by Patrick Lawson!"

But instead of the mailman, a certain cyborg Turtle greeted him with a small, nervous smile. "Um, hey, Casey." His robotic right arm was still missing, having been melted off from Mutagen Man's acidic touch. What's more, his eyes seemed completely normal and soft again, unlike the cold, emotionless cybernetic ones from before.

"Donnie?" Casey couldn't believe it. "W-What are you doing here?"

"I just want to talk."

"About what?"

"Eveything."

Casey blinked before he stepped aside and opened the door wider. "Uh, okay? Come in and...make yourself at home."

Donnie nodded to him as he stepped inside. "Thanks, Casey. Is April home?"

"Yeah, I'll go get her," Casey said as he went up the stairs. "Have a seat and we'll be right there."

The Turtle sat down on the couch and looked around him. It was really nice here. It had been years since he stayed in a house with a warm bed and comfortable furniture. Being a cyborg and a workaholic, he rarely slept at all, and whenever he did, he'd rest his head on his desk. Morph Enterprises was his home.

"Donnie?" Said Turtle looked up to see April walking down the stairs with Casey following behind her. She was very surprised to see her old friend sitting on their couch.

Donnie smiled warmly at her. "Hi, April. How have you been?"

April was taken back by Donnie's strange behavior. The last time they met, he was cold and apathetic, and now all of a sudden he was smiling and being friendly toward her? "I, uh...I've been okay," she said as she sat down in one of the chairs. "How about you?"

The smile on his face dropped and he looked down at the floor in shame. "Not good, actually. I feel so horrible about what happened to Timothy."

April shivered at the memory of Timothy's organs burning up inside his canister after Donnie gave him that strange red stuff. "Y-Yeah. And Shadow is taking it very hard, too. What about Raph?"

"He's hurting, too," Donnie softly said, his eyes still downcast. "He was determined to find a cure for Timothy. But me? I just wanted to put him down since it was the easiest route to take. Finding a cure probably would've taken years, but I still should've tried anyway. I was a terrible friend to Timothy..." He lifted his eyes to where April sat. "...and you. I'm so sorry, April. For everything."

April could see the sadness in his auburn eyes and hear the genuine remorse in his voice. "Oh, Donnie. It-It's okay."

Donnie shook his head. "No. No, it's not okay, April. I totally acted like a monster. I know it's no excuse, but I was so devasted over Mikey's death that I wanted to detach myself from everyone else so that I wouldn't feel the hurt again. I wanted to be a cold, unfeeling machine, but in the process, I became so alone and even more miserable. I see now that I was wrong, and I want to try and fix things between us."

He got off the couch and walked over to April, got on his knees and took her hand with his only one. "Again, I'm so sorry, and I hope that you'll still think of me as your friend. And if not, then I completely understand."

April smiled down at him with soft eyes and got down on her knees to wrap her arms around him. Donnie stiffened in her embrace and his eyes became wide.

"Of course I will, Donnie," she told him as she rubbed his shell. "We'll always be friends. I'm just happy to have you back." She buried her face in his shoulder and tightened her hold on him. "I really am."

Tears brimmed in Donnie's eyes as he returned the hug with his one arm and rested his cheek against her head. "Thank you," he said in a choked up whisper.

He felt someone touch his other shoulder and looked up to see Casey standing over him with a grin on his face. "Good to have you back on the team, nerd."

Donnie chuckled. It was comfort to know that Casey hadn't changed much over the last thirty years. "Yeah, it's good to be back, Jones."

* * *

 _Alone_

"It's been years since we've been on patrol together," Raph yawned as he sat on the ledge of a building next to Donnie and Shadow. It was past midnight and the three kept watch over the city for the past three hours. "Brings back memories, don't it?"

Donnie nodded as he yawned too. "Yep. Still boring as ever. Can't believe you talked me into this."

Raph only chuckled. "Are you kidding? You were practically begging me to let you come with."

"Nooooo," Donnie corrected him. "What I said was, I needed to take a breather from work, and I could've been enjoying a caffé mocha right now instead of sitting here all night watching the cars and helicopters go by."

"Come on," Raph playfully nudged him on the shoulder. "Admit it. You missed doing this."

"Patrolling?" Donnie smiled and shook his head. "Nah. But spending time with my brother? Yeah, I definitely missed that."

Shadow dozed off every now and then with Raph having to nudge her awake. "Uncle Raph, I have a math test tomorrow," she whined, rubbing her eyes. "And I need to study or I'll fail and Mom will kill me. So can we _please_ go home now?"

"You're such a whiner, Shadow," Raph teased, though he was feeling a bit tired himself. "Still, yeah, maybe it is time to call it night." He got up on his feet and stretched himself...when he noticed a shadowy figure standing on the rooftop of a building several blocks from where they were. It dashed away with incredible speed the second Raph spotted it and disappeared out of sight.

"Raph?" Donnie followed Raph's gaze when he noticed the surprised look on his brother's face. "What is it?"

A bunch of theories as to who or what it was went through Raph's mind, but he quickly shrugged it off, too tired to even deal with it right now. "It's nothing, Don. Let's go."

Unknown to the two, their former leader and eldest brother walked in a dark alley alone and deep in thought.

Donnie looked so happy. They _both_ did. Watching them reminded Leo of the good old days when Mikey was still alive and they were all still together as a family. But after that fateful night, Leo became so convinced that the family would fall apart without their most innocent and optimistic brother. And sure enough it did.

But now Leo was starting to wonder if it really was Mikey's death that drove them apart. Instead of staying to mourn with his brothers, he pursued after Shredder and got his revenge, and he didn't stop there. He then took it upon himself to cleanse the city of all scum and criminals in honor of his dead brother, becoming the infamous vigilante the Serpent. He was always there for the civilians, but he was never there for his brothers.

Raph and Donnie needed their big brother more than ever after Mikey died, but since he was never there, they had to deal with their grief in their own ways, with Donnie transforming himself into a cyborg and Raph mutilating himself and becoming a hermit.

He was supposed to be the shoulder for them to lean on, and instead he abandoned them for vengeance. He was only thinking of himself for the last thirty years, and he didn't deserve to be accepted back into the now healing family.

He deserved to be alone.


	10. Selfish

**This was a request from a Guest reviewer a while back. Sorry it was so late! Takes place before "Scroll of the Demodragon".**

 **NOTE: There will probably be grammar mi which I will fix later.**

"Ahhhhh-CHOO!"

"Ewww!" Mikey laughed as he pointed at Raph, who was lying on the couch and buried under a mountain of blankets. "Look at Raph's boogers! Gross!"

Raph sniffled and glared up at him with bloodshot eyes. "Shut it," he grumbled.

Donnie arrived with a steaming bowl of chicken soup and sat down on a stool next to the couch. He carefully held a spoonful to Raph's chapped lips. "Here comes the soup train," he said in a sing-song voice. "Choo-Choo!"

"Pffft!" Mikey clamped his hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter.

Raph glared daggers at his gap-toothed brother and lifted his hand under the blankets. Donnie had the sneaky suspicion that Raph was flipping him off.

"Alright, you two," Leo stepped into living room with a glass of water. "Stop making fun of Raph's predicament."

"'Predicament'? What predicament?" Raph snapped and sniffled. "I keep telling you all, I'm _fine_!"

Leo shook his head and gave Raph a lopsided grin. "Sure you are, Raph. Here, drink your water."

Raph sat up and snatched the glass from Leo, gulping the water down and soothing his sore throat. "And I don't need you all mothering me. I can take care of myself."

"You can't even stand, Raph," Donnie said.

"Oh, yeah?" Raph kicked the blankets off and stood up from the couch on wobbly legs. "HA! See?" he smiled smugly and took a step forward. "Satisfi- _IIIED!_ " His legs gave out and he fell flat on his face. His brothers all immediately rushed to his side and helped him back onto the couch.

"Do us all a favor, Raph," Donnie sighed as he fluffed Raph's pillows, "and stay on the couch."

"Well, if I'm on the couch, then who's gonna go patrolling with Leo tonight?" Raph glanced over at their leader. "At least one of us has to go with him."

Leo smiled at him. "Don't worry about me. I'm sure Donnie can take your place."

"Uh..." Donnie scratched under his chin, looking a bit unsure. "Actually, Leo, I promised April that I would go see that new movie _Heartstrings_ with her. I can't just blow her off."

"Okay," Leo shrugged. "Then Mikey can come with me."

"Yeeeeah," Mikey rubbed the back of his neck and glanced to the side. "See, the thing is, Mondo and I are gonna go skateboarding at the junkyard tonight. Promised the dude I'd meet him there by nine."

Leo groaned and did a facepalm. "Figures," he mumbled. "Well, I guess that means I'm going alone-"

" ** _NO!_** " All three bros screamed at him in unison, nearly making him jump out of his shell.

"Leo, we talked about this!" Donnie sternly said.

"No more solo missions!" Raph crossed his arms.

"Yeah!" Mikey nodded. "Something bad always happens to you whenever you go alone!"

"Not always!" Leo retorted. "I'm not completely helpless on my own!"

"Face it, Leo. Tonight, we're all taking a break."

"That is not an option, Mikey!"

Donnie got in close to Leo's face, forcing his older brother to look only at him. "Leo, don't force us tie you up and lock you in your room," he warned. "We really don't want to, but we will if we have to."

Leo's eyes widened in surprise, before he sighed in defeat, knowing that even he couldn't take both Mikey and Donnie alone. "Fine," he murmured as he headed to the dojo and slid the doors shut.

"He's totally gonna sneak out," Mikey said.

Donnie sighed softly and nodded, actually agreeing with Mikey for once. "Yeah, you're right."

...

"Now remember, Raph," Donnie handed his sick brother a T-phone, "if Leo makes any attempt to sneak out of the lair, which I'm sure he will, give me a holler."

Raph scoffed and took the phone. "Whatever. If he tries to leave, I'll just knock him out."

"Not in your current condition, you can't," Donnie scolded, tucking the blankets around Raph. "Just call me, okay?"

"Sure," Raph grumbled as he hid the phone under his pillow and pulled out the remote. He turned on the T.V and switched to the channel where the Space Heroes marathon was airing all night. He figured that if Leo did try to leave, he'd be entranced by his favorite show of all time and stay to watch it with him.

Donnie immediately understood his tactic and smiled down at him impressed. "Good thinking, Raph. Anyway, I'd better go. Can't be late for my date." The genius Turtle quickly left the lair, and Raph was now left alone with Leo. Mikey had already left about twenty minutes ago for his skateboarding appointment with Mondo Gecko.

"Ahh-choo!" Raph sneezed again and wiped his snotty nose with a tissue. "This sucks."

Suddenly he heard a guttural chirping sound and looked down to see Chompy hopping towards him on the floor.

He smiled and picked up the tiny space turtle. "Hey, little buddy. Did you come here to keep me company?"

Chompy wagged his tail and licked his finger in response.

Raph chuckled and cuddled with Chompy, who nuzzled him under his chin. The two watched Space Heroes together for the next two hours, and so far, Raph hadn't heard a peep out of Leo.

Then, from the corner of his eye, he saw Leo step into the T.V area. He smirked to himself proudly. The plan worked.

"Space Heroes marathon?" Leo's voice sounded a bit...croaky. Great. Did he catch Raph's cold?

"Yep," Raph lifted his head from the pillow and looked over at Leo. "It still has two more hours to go-OH MY GOD!"

Leo was a complete mess. There were three deep claw marks that ran down his plastron and bruises all over his face, and his index finger on his left hand was bent backwards.

Yet despite the pain he obviously was in, Leo gave him a weak smile. "It's...not as bad as it looks, Raph," he said in a quivering soft voice.

Raph kicked the blankets off and started to get up from the couch.

"Oh, no, Raph," Leo shook his head and put his bloody right hand on Raph's shoulder. "Lie down. You're sick."

"And you're badly hurt!" Raph slapped his hand away and stood up. He gently eased Leo on the couch and hurried into the kitchen with wobbly legs. Seconds later he returned with a wet rag and wrap bandages.

"Raph, please..." Leo rasped.

"Shut up, Leo." Raph began to wipe the blood from Leo's face and mouth with the wet rag, then he moved on to the claw marks on his plaston, covering them with the bandages. Finally, he bent the index finger back into place, wincing when the bones cracked and Leo let out a strained scream.

They said nothing to each other as Raph treated him, then once the hotheaded Turtle was finally done, he asked his brother, "What happened, bro?"

Leo hesitated before he sighed softly and leaned back on the couch. "Trained too hard in the dojo."

Really? That was the best lie he could come up with? "Baloney," Raph immediately said with a scowl. "Come on, Leo. What _really_ happened?"

Leo closed his eyes and sighed again. "Alright. I snuck out while you were watching T.V. I happened to catch Tiger Claw and Fishface robbing a jewelry store and moved in to stop them." He chuckled bitterly and touched the bandages. "Needless to say, they beat the crap out of me."

Raph sighed and rubbed his temples as he sat down next to Leo, placing Chompy in his lap. "How can you be so selfish?"

Leo looked at him bewildered. "Selfish? How is keeping the city safe-?"

"You keep risking your life out there without considering our feelings. One of these days, you're gonna get yourself killed and we'll have to bury you next to Father."

Leo's eyes widened and his face blanched.

Raph glared at him unsympathetically. "You really want to do that to us, Leo?"

The leader cast his eyes down to his hands that were folded in his lap, guilt radiating off him. "No. Of course not."

"Then quit the solo missions," Raph sternly told him, before he redirected his attention to the program, too mad to talk to his brother anymore or even look at him.

For the next ten minutes, they sat on the couch in silence. Leo occasionally glanced over at Raph, wishing that he knew what to say, but then he'd hang his head in shame again. He knew that Sensei wouldn't approve of his actions if he were still here.

Raph finally spoke in a quiet voice, "Donnie is so gonna have your ass when he gets back."

Despite himself, Leo smiled and chuckled softly. "Yeah. Now he has two patients to look after."

Even Raph couldn't help but chuckle along with him. And just like that, he forgave his big brother as always.


	11. Dirty Hands

**Guest Nameless Stranger wanted an "Expendable" one-shot in which Splinter is forced to kill Mikey himself. I'm trying to finish this request compilation as quickly as possible.**

 **NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes which I will fix later.**

"I choose Michelangelo."

The other Turtles and Karai all begged their father to reconsider, while Shredder sneered underneath his disfigured mask.

"Very well," he stomped over to the rat and suddenly sliced through the chains that bound him.

Splinter looked down at his chains on the floor then back up at Shredder in confusion.

"Now," Saki said as he nodded to where Mikey knelt, "kill him."

Splinter's brown eyes instantly became large. "What?" he gasped.

Everyone else stared at the monstrous mutant in utter disbelief, including his own henchmen.

"You chose Michelangelo," Shredder explained. "Now you must kill him with your bare hands."

The flames of righteous anger blazed in Splinter's eyes. "Saki..." he growled as he started to get up with his hands balled into fists. "If you think-!"

All of a sudden, before he could attack, Shredder slashed both of his legs with his blades, and the master ninja fell to the floor screaming in pain.

"FATHER!" "SENSEI!" Both Karai and Mikey called out to him, absolutely horrified by the sight of all that blood gushing out of his legs.

Shredder knelt down to grab the now limp Splinter by the collar of his kimono and lift him off the ground. "You have no choice, Yoshi. It is either him or _all_ of your children. I thought we have already established that." He then dropped him and went back to Mikey, picking the Turtle up by his chain and tossing him to where Splinter lay.

"If you do not kill him," Shredder approached Karai and pointed his blades at her chest, "then I will stab your daughter right through the heart, slowly."

Karai glanced over at her father. There was fear in her light brown eyes, but there was also a silent plea for him not to go through with it and she shook her head.

Splinter looked directly at his son before him and could see the fear in his eyes as well. Despite the many years of intense and harsh training, Mikey never onced doubted in his heart that Splinter loved him and would never actually hurt him. To be killed by his own father, it was unimaginable and unbearably heartbreaking.

But there was also an understanding in Mikey's kind blue eyes, and the strong love and trust that he had for his teacher and father was still there even now. "Sensei, it's okay," he whispered with a sad smile. "Kill me."

Yoshi couldn't believe what he was hearing. His baby was actually asking him to kill him. His eyes brimmed with tears as he shook his head. "No, my son," he croaked. "You cannot expect me to-"

A strangled gasp came from behind them and they both turned to see Shredder slowly starting to press the tips his blades against Karai's chest, already piercing through her armor.

He glared at Splinter with his glowing blue eyes. "I am running out of patience, Yoshi. And you are running out of time."

Even under pressure, Splinter could not move a muscle, too horrified to even think. He faintly heard the other Turtles yelling and screaming, but he snapped back to reality when he felt Mikey lay his head down on his lap.

"Please, Sensei," Mikey rasped as he looked up at Splinter. "You gotta save Karai. Do it quick."

Seeing his son, his baby in his lap made it even harder for him and choked up sobs escaped as he held Mikey's face, gently rubbing his thumbs over those freckles. "Michelangelo..."

"I know this is impossible to do, but you gotta do it. And I still love you. I always will."

Splinter was astonished at how mature Michelangelo had become since his first trip to the surface a year ago. Here he was, literally laying down his life for his sister and brothers. That was the full extent of his love for his family.

Karai whimpered as the blades were now pricking her skin.

Splinter's ears perked up at the sound of his daughter slowly being tortured.

Mikey heard it, too, and a tear escaped, sliding down his cheek and touching Splinter's thumb. "Dad, _please_."

He painfully shut his eyes tight. He couldn't do it.

"Let go of her, Saki!" Leo screamed, trying with every strength in his body to break free from Tiger Claw, but unfortunately the bounty hunter was stronger than he was.

"Don't do it, Sensei!" Donnie begged, his auburn eyes wet and shimmering. "Don't do it!"

"Mikey!" Raph cried out as he desperately struggled to free himself. He'd be a failure if he couldn't protect his little brother.

"Father, don't...!" Karai screamed in pain as the blades dug deeper into her chest, drawing more blood.

He painfully shut his eyes tight as the screams came at him all at once.

"Father, please! No!"

"Sensei, you can't!"

"Decide _now_ , Yoshi!"

"No, Sensei! Please!"

"Let go of me! MIKEY!"

 _Crack._

That one sickening crack silenced them all.

Mikey instantly went limp and his head dropped into Splinter's lap.

When he finally had the courage to open his eyes, Splinter looked down at his son, who looked so peaceful. There was a little comfort in knowing in that Michelangelo didn't suffer and that it was quick, but his baby was still dead and it tore his soul apart. His hands would be forever dirty with the blood of his own son. Bowing his head and sobbing quietly, he caressed Mikey's cheek, which was still wet with tears.

Satisfied, Shredder retracted his bloody blades, sparing Karai, and he ordered his henchmen to release the other Turtles, who could only kneel and stare at their now dead brother. But the moment Shredder and his men left the warehouse, Leo ran to Splinter and roughly shoved him away from Mikey.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Leo hollered as he gathered Mikey in his arms and hugged him protectively close to his plastron. "YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY BROTHER!"

"Leonardo...," Splinter raspily begged, the fur on his face soaked with tears.

"Mikey...!" Raph ran to them and dropped to his knees, wrapping his arms around Mikey's broken neck and sobbing miserably.

Donnie took slow, sloppy steps toward them, the expression on his face blank. His eyes were puffy and red, but he wasn't crying anymore. He didn't feel sadness, or anything for that matter. He was completely numb to the world.

But he walked past his brothers and father and stood over Karai. The kunoichi looked up at the Turtle with sad, pleading eyes. "Donnie, I'm so sorry," she sobbed. "I-I didn't mean for anything of this to...!"

He only knelt down and took the chains off of her, then he inspected her wound. "Thankfully it's not life-threatening, but we should get that treated immediately," he said in a quiet, monotone voice. He slung her arm over his shoulder and helped her to stand up. "Let's get you to the lab," he said as he led her to the exit.

Karai was greatly disturbed by his strange behavior. His younger brother had just died and he wasn't mourning with his family. He didn't even look their way as he walked past them again, focused only on getting Karai back to the lair.

But Karai looked back as they headed for the front doors. Leo and Raph were holding Mikey and sobbing together, while Splinter knelt a few feet away from them, denied any contact with his youngest baby by his eldest, who undoubtedly hated him now. She didn't know if Donnie and Raph felt the same resentment toward him, but she did know this: he still had one child who loved him, and she would always be there for him.

It was what her little brother would've wanted, after all.

 **So I just learned that my uncle died. He was battling cancer for three years, and it finally won. My family is suffering yet another loss, not even a year after my Dad suddenly died from a heart attack. So please pray for me and keep me in your thoughts.**


	12. Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow

**This oneshot is for Akimii. Her fics include a genderbent Raph who is in love with Xever/Fishface.**

 **NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes which I will fix later.**

"I've been reading this book, _Romeo and Juliet_ ," Raph leaned her head on Xever's shoulder as she looked up at the bright full moon.

The two young lovers sat on the ledge of a thirty story building. It was after midnight, the only time they had to break away from the prying eyes of their family and comrades.

"Oh?" the Brazilian mutant fish looked away from the blinking skyscrapers to the beautiful young Turtle who rested on his shoulder. "And what do you think of it?"

"Boring," she immediately said with a sigh. "And incredibly cheesy, like _Twilight_ cheesy. But hey, that's Shakespeare for ya."

Xever chuckled softly and pulled her closer with his arm around her waist. "Agreed."

"But ya know," Raph placed her hand on Xever's slick, scaly chest, "it really got to me how dedicated Romeo and Juliet were to each other. Even though their relationship was taboo, nothing could keep them apart. Not even death."

He grunted in agreement. "Yes, I remember that story from the sixth grade. They both committed suicide so that they would be together forever. How did they do it again? I forgot."

"Romeo drank poison and Juliet stabbed herself."

"Really? I thought they stabbed each other or something."

Raph lifted her emerald eyes at him in surprise. "...sheesh, that's even darker." Then she grinned. "Shakespeare should've picked _that_ ending."

"That reminds me of an article I've recently read on Maurice Sendak."

"Who?"

"The author of that book _Where The Wild Things Are_."

"Oh, I love that book! Sensei read it to us when we were little."

"Well, he and his brother created a storybook about a brother and sister who were in love with each other. It was called _We Are Inseparable._ After the brother got in an accident and was rushed to the hospital, the parents tried to keep the sister from seeing him. But she managed to get in nonetheless and once she was in his arms, they shouted in unison, 'We are inseparable!' The book ended with them jumping out of the window and falling to their deaths."

Raph blinked. "Wow. Intense. But...oddly touching." She glanced down at the busy street below her feet. They were so high up that the people looked like tiny ants. If either one of them jumped, they'd splatter like watermelons upon impact. A quick but gruesome death.

She looked back at Xever, whose scales shimmered under the moonlight, giving him a sparkling appearance. God, he was beautiful. Their love was beautiful. But her family would never approve. She couldn't bear the the thought of Splinter looking at her with eyes full of disgust and disappointment.

But she knew she could never go on living without Xever.

Taking a deep breath, she pulled away from Xever's embrace and took a step toward the ledge, peering down at the street. "Maybe _we_ should jump."

Xever looked at her confused. "Huh? I'm sorry, I...I don't think I heard you right."

She shook her head and flashed him a sad smile, the ends of her mask flowing in the wind. "No, you did. We should just jump off this building and be done with it."

He quickly got back on his feet and pulled her away from the ledge. "But...why? This isn't like you, Raph."

She shrugged and looked down at the concrete floor. "My family will never approve of...you know, us. To my Dad, it would even be worse than coming out as gay."

Xever couldn't hold back a chuckle despite the situation. "Nah, you're being ridiculous."

But she only looked at him grimly with somber emerald eyes. "No, really. Look, I know my Dad, alright? And I know Leo would kick my ass if he knew. And don't forget about your boss. If he ever finds out, he'll gut you like a fish. No pun intended."

He chuckled again before he caressed her cheek, his thumb rubbing over the beauty spot. "I'm well aware of my boss's wrath, and I know the consequences of betraying him. But you, my love, are worth it."

She opened her mouth to protest but he silenced her by gently placing his finger on her lips.

"Nothing and no one will ever keep us apart," he whispered. "We are inseparable."

Raph's eyes became watery and her bottom lip trembled.

"But we can't become like Romeo and Juliet or the brother and sister in that story. We would be cowards if we took our own lives. And you, Raphaella, are no coward. You are the strongest person I've ever met."

Raph closed her eyes and let out a sob, tears now dripping down cheeks. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his chest. "I'm not as strong as you think."

"You are," he softly assured her, soothingly rubbing the carapace of her shell. "You inspire me to be a stronger person."

She smiled and pulled away from, playfully tapping the tip of one of his fangs with her finger. "Have I ever told you that your accent makes you even sexier?"

A smug grin was now on his face. "Yeah, I get that a lot. What is it with American women and Brazilian men?"

She laughed as she gave him a long, passionate kiss on the lips. Just then the T-phone in her belt started to ding, which meant that their short time together was up. Sighing heavily, she pulled her phone out and turned off the alarm. "Well, My family's going to wake up in thirty minutes." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Same time tomorrow?"

Although it broke his heart to watch her leave, he somberly nodded. "Yeah."

After giving her hand a squeeze, he let go and waved to her as she jumped onto the next rooftop then climbed down the fire escape until she disappeared out of sight.

He let out one final sigh before he turned to head back to Shredder's headquarters.

"Parting is such sweet sorrow."

 **Sorry guys but I can't handle anymore requests through PM's or reviews. I'm trying to catch up. Thank you! :)**


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